Decision-making and problem solving in complex PCI: interactive case-based learning #2

Prof Farrel Hellig is the Cathlab Director at Sunninghill Hospital (Johannesburg, South Africa) and Hon Professor of Cardiology at the University of Cape Town. He is involved in both the coronary and structural cardiac fields as well as peripheral interventions. Sunninghill Hospital is a referral centre for complex medical problems. In the coronary arena, his main interests are: complex multivessel disease, left main intervention, rotational atherectomy and chronic total occlusion. He has been active in the field of coronary physiology and imaging. He has many educational roles, including: director of Africa PCR, numerous presentations and live case transmissions to multiple international congresses and is a proctor for many different procedures. He has numerous publications, editorials and book chapters, and is on the editorial board of Eurointervention journal. In his spare time he plays saxophone, collects wine, cooks, and builds and flys model aircraft.

Prof Javier Escaned is Head of Interventional Cardiology Section at Hospital Clinico San Carlos (Madrid, Spain). He trained as a cardiologist the United Kingdom before moving to the Thoraxcenter / Rotterdam (The Netherlands), where he obtained his PhD degree in 1994. With over 30 years of experience as interventionalist, he regularly serves as live case operator and educationalist in global events. He is author of over 500 PubMed indexed scientific articles (h-index 74) on topics that include complex PCI in multivessel disease, left main and chronic total occlusions. His track record in coronary physiology includes being investigator on pivotal FFR trials like DEFER (1998), collaborator with Justin Davies in the validation and clinical implementation of iFR (since 2010), and developer of new methods for the assessment of microvascular and non-obstructive coronary disease. Editorial work includes two large textbooks (“Coronary Stenosis. Imaging, Structure and Physiology” and “Physiological Assessment of Coronary Stenoses and the Microcirculation) and editorial board positions in scientific journals. Board positions in scientific societies include EuroPCR, EAPCI, EuroCTO and the ESC Working Group of Coronary Pathophysiology and Microcirculation. Additional interest incllude music and phylosophy. He is a recipient of the ESC Silver Medal and the 2022 ESC Andreas Gruentzig Award.

Dr Justin Davies is founder and CEO of Wondr Medical, inventor of iFR, and clinical academic and consultant interventional cardiologist at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London.

Dr Nieves Gonzalo is Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at the Interventional Cardiology Department at Clinico San Carlos University Hospital in Madrid. She obtained her Specialist Certification in Cardiology after training at Clinico San Carlos University Hospital in Madrid. Subsequently, she underwent a research fellowship at Thoraxcenter, Erasmus University Rotterdam (The Netherlands) under the supervision of Professor Patrick Serruys, focused mainly in intracoronary imaging and bioabsorbable stents. In 2010 she obtained her PhD with the thesis “Optical coherence tomography for the assessment of coronary atherosclerosis and vessel response after stent implantation”. Her track record includes over 170 articles indexed in PubMed, as well as book chapters in Interventional Cardiology textbooks. Recent research projects as principal investigator includes a study about the assessment of neoatherosclerosis and its clinical impact in patients with restenosis (RIBS IV and V OCT substudy) and research regarding vessel injury and healing evaluation with different stent platforms evaluated with OCT (VISTA study). Dr Gonzalo is a dedicated educationalist with involvement in many areas of complex PCI, serving currently as Deputy Editor for Eurointervention and Committee Member of EuroPCR.

Dr. Pablo Salinas is Interventional Cardiologist at Hospital Clínico San Carlos in Madrid, Spain. He studied Medicine at Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain and was trained in Cardiology and Interventional Cardiology at Hospital La Paz in Madrid, Spain. In 2015 he obtained his PhD degree (cum laude) at the Universidad Autonoma in Madrid. He has developed his professional career in the field of interventional cardiology for over 10 years, and is a skilled operator in complex coronary intervention, chronic occlusions, and stroke prevention therapies such as foramen ovale closure and appendage closure, with regular participation in educational events and live cases. During his research career he has 80+ PubMed indexed publications and is currently the PI of three multicenter studies SUGAR Trial (NCT03321032), REVASEC Registry (NCT03349385), and TROMPA Registry. Also he has been researcher in several investigator initiated, competitive funding research (PI16 / 00840, PIE16 / 00043, PI15 / 00742).