Home Messages — Interventional Cardiology’s Shift Toward Endovascular Therapies (TCT 2025)
Home Messages — Interventional Cardiology’s Shift Toward Endovascular Therapies (TCT 2025)
keynotes:
• Endovascular medicine is becoming a central pillar of interventional cardiology, with growing focus on pulmonary embolism (PE), stroke, PAD, carotid disease, and renal denervation.
• STORM-PE is the first randomized trial of mechanical thrombectomy for intermediate-risk PE, showing meaningful right-heart strain reduction and signaling a potential shift in future PE guidelines.
• LIFE-BTK demonstrated sustained benefit at 3 years from a resorbable drug-eluting scaffold for below-the-knee intervention—even after the device has fully dissolved.
• Vascular sessions at TCT 2025 were packed, reflecting a renewed excitement in endovascular therapies across the specialty.
• The evolution of PE and stroke interventions mirrors the historical transition from thrombolytics to primary PCI in the 1990s — a systems-of-care revolution now repeating in other vascular beds.
• PERT teams (Pulmonary Embolism Response Teams) are becoming a model for multidisciplinary, rapid-response vascular care. “PERT teams” (Pulmonary Embolism Response Teams) provide fast, coordinated care for patients with pulmonary embolism by bringing together specialists from cardiology, radiology, emergency medicine, and intensive care. They are becoming the leading model for rapid, multidisciplinary vascular care.
• With PCI volumes plateauing, endovascular procedures offer major growth opportunities for hospitals, cath labs, and interventionalists.
• Younger operators should be trained in endovascular skills, as this is where the future procedural volume and innovation will be concentrated.
