Evolving approaches to planning and guiding complex PCI - discussion

Dr Sharp qualified from Edinburgh Medical School in 1998. He was appointed as a Consultant Cardiologist at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in 2011 and Honorary Associate Professor by the University of Exeter in 2018 before moving to the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff, U.K., in the summer of 2019. He conducted his early training at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, before moving to London for his senior clinical training. He completed the Milan-Imperial Interventional Cardiology Fellowship programme, having spent a year in San Raffaele and Columbus Hospitals, Milan, Italy, under the tutelage of Professor Antonio Colombo. He also spent three years training in interventional cardiology at St Mary’s Hospital and The Hammersmith Hospital (Imperial College Hospitals) in London. Prof Sharp was awarded an MD postgraduate research degree from the University of Edinburgh for his work on the hypertensive heart and leads a large research programme in Wales. He has an international reputation for leading the development of device-based treatments for hypertension (in particular that of renal denervation) and pulmonary embolism, as well as the advancement of intracoronary imaging and physiology.

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. A skilled interventionalist with over 30 years of experience, he regularly serves as live case operator and educationalist in global events like EuroPCR, TCT or the ESC Congress. He is author of over 500 PubMed indexed scientific articles (h-index 71) on topics that include complex PCI in multivessel disease (principal investigator of SYNTAX II study), left main and chronic total occlusions, and secondary revascularization. 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. Recent / ongoing trials as Co-PI include ADVISE, ADVISE II, DEFINE FLAIR and ABSORB II PHYSIOLOGY, being investigator also in ILUMIEN I and IV, COMBINE and other studies on coronary imaging. He is currently Deputy Editor for Interventional Cardiology of the European Heart Journal, as well as editor of two large textbooks: “Coronary Stenosis.Imaging, Structure and Physiology”, (co-editor Patrick Serruys) and “Physiological Assessment of Coronary Stenoses and the Microcirculation) (co-editor Justin Davies). Current or recent board positions in scientific societies include EuroPCR, EAPCI, EuroCTO and the ESC Working Group of Coronary Pathophysiology and Microcirculation. Some of his additional interests are philosophy, education and music.

Jeroen Sonck is co-director of the Cardiovascular Center Aalst in Belgium. He is also director of CoreAalst BV, conducting research mainly in coronary interventions and physiology with a strong focus on innovation. He was trained in UZ Brussels University Hospital, Catharina Hospital Eindhoven and joined the Aalst team in 2018. His main clinical activities concentrate on complex PCI and the use of non-invasive coronary imaging and coronary physiology to guide coronary revascularization. Dr. Sonck has renowned proficiency in coronary CT, CT-derived FFR and was involved in the early development and validation of virtual PCI using the FFR-CT Planner. He participated in innovative research bringing coronary CT in the cathlab (CT-guided PCI) and developed with his colleague Dr. Carlos Collet the Pullback Pressure Gradient describing the pattern of CAD to improve physiology-guided PCI. He served as the PI of several studies. Together with the interventional team in Aalst Jeroen Sonck has already trained multiple fellows in imaging, physiology and PCI.

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.