First Global Consensus on the Appropriate Use of IVUS in Peripheral Vascular Disease Interventions Presented at VIVA 2021

October 5, 2021—A worldwide committee of 40 cross-specialty medical experts achieved the first-ever consensus for the appropriate use of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) in peripheral vascular disease (PVD) interventions, the results of which were shared at a special symposium during VIVA 2021, the annual Vascular Interventional Advances conference held October 4-7 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Royal Philips and Boston Scientific cosponsored the project, which includes new consensus and recommendations for use of IVUS, aiming to improve quality care in PVD and based on evidence, expert practice standards, and clinical experience.

Royal Philips commented that health care providers’ use of IVUS in PVD interventions is not standardized and is therefore inconsistent. The new appropriate-use expert consensus may help establish global standards of care to adopt into guidelines and improve quality care in PVD.

The company noted that the broad, multidisciplinary committee of global experts used a rigorous methodology to achieve consensus. They conducted a systematic and comprehensive review of key clinical IVUS scenarios and decision-making processes before voting as world experts in the field. Through this method, experts established clinical consensus to identify optimal use of IVUS and potential gaps to set a standard across clinical specialties and drive positive outcomes for patients.

“The results of the cross-specialty expert consensus demonstrate strong support for the use of IVUS during peripheral interventions,” commented Eric A. Secemsky, MD, in the announcement. “Future efforts need to focus on improving IVUS implementation into clinical practice and streamlining procedural workflow to help improve our patient outcomes.”

Dr. Secemsky is an interventional cardiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.

In communication with Endovascular Today, Dr. Secemsky noted that the development of the consensus was a unique project independently conducted by the Smith Center for Outcomes Research in Cardiology at Beth-Israel Deaconess, where he is Section Head—Interventional Cardiology and Vascular Research.