Top 10 reasons interventional cardiologists should be happy

By MARK McCARTY

Medical Device Daily Washington Editor

Dear Interventional Cardiologist,

Worried about Medicare reimbursement for the Next Great Stent? Concerned that FDA's massive regulatory girth will squash your drug-eluting balloon groove? Not to worry. Here are the top 10 reasons you should be thrilled with your choice of specialty.

Number 10: PCI numbers are flat of late, but just watch that Baby Boom fill your waiting room in the years to come.

Number 9: The transradial (through the wrist) route is gaining acceptance as an approach to coronary intervention.

Number 8: Americans aren't getting any skinnier!

Number 7: The latest hospital in-patient payment system proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would slightly increase payment for PCI procedures in fiscal 2012.

Number 6: Abbott (Abbott Park, Illinois) recently won a CE mark for its bioresorbable stent, the BVS. Can FDA really afford to be more than two years behind? I don't think so!

Number 5: Someday – probably in the not-too-distant future – really rich dog owners will decide their mutts deserve the best, too.

Number 4: Intravascular ultrasound.

Number 3: The American Heart Association just came up with a list of nearly two dozen catheter-based treatments that should be considered for pediatric heart disease.

Number 2: Percutaneous delivery of heart valves, and ...

The Number 1 reason interventional cardiologists should be happy with their choice of specialty: Who in their right mind really wants to have their chest cracked open?