ShockWave Medical announces coronary IVL included as treatment option by SCAI

Shockwave Medical announced that coronary IVL was included in a treatment guidance document published by the Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Intervention, SCAI, as a potential therapeutic option in all U.S. catheterization labs. – including facilities without on-site surgical backup. The latest guidance – SCAI Expert Consensus Statement on PCI Without On-Site Surgical Backup – was published online in the Journal of the Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Intervention, JSCAI. The updated guidelines, which modify the previous 2014 guidelines by no longer restricting recommended treatment to facilities with on-site surgical backup, will now endorse expanded treatment options and access for patients with calcified coronary lesions. The 2014 guidelines recommended avoiding treatment of high-risk lesions defined as "more than moderate calcification" in facilities without surgical backup. The updated guidelines note the old recommendation "restricted practice, limited patient choice and exposed interventional cardiologists to legal risk." "With the interventional field rapidly evolving, we commend SCAI for continuously evaluating current interventional practices to ensure that their consensus documents accurately provide the best possible guidance for optimal patient care," said Doug Godshall, Chief Executive Officer of Shockwave Medical. "We look forward to working with sites that have not yet adopted coronary IVL due to their lack of surgical backup and to expanding the number of centers that have access to our technology due to this new guidance."