Patient safety and outcomes from live case demonstrations of interventional cardiology procedures

Objectives: The goal of this study was to examine the safety and results of interventional procedures performed during the broadcast of live case demonstrations. Background: Professional meetings using live case demonstrations to present cutting-edge technology are considered a valuable educational resource. There is an ongoing discussion on whether patients who are treated during live case demonstrations are exposed to a higher risk. Methods: Between 1998 and 2010, 101 patients were treated during live transmissions from a single center in 15 invasive-cardiology conferences. Technical success was defined as the ability to effectively perform the planned procedure without any major complication. The primary endpoint of the study was the composite occurrence of death, myocardial infarction, or stroke. Results: The interventional procedures included coronary (n = 66), carotid (n = 15), peripheral (n = 1), valvular (n = 2), congenital heart disease (n = 12), and complex electrophysiological mapping and ablation interventions (n = 7). In 4 cases, the intended procedure was not done. The procedure was technically successful in 95%. In 5 cases, the procedure was unsuccessful because of the inability to cross a chronic total occlusion. There were no deaths during the hospital stay, and the composite primary endpoint occurred in 2 patients: a minor stroke following an atrial fibrillation ablation and a rise in serum troponin levels after percutaneous coronary intervention. These results were no different from those of 66 matched controls who underwent procedures performed by the same operators but not as live case demonstrations (relative risk: 0.32; 95% confidence interval: 0.02 to 3.62, p = 0.62). Conclusions: In this consecutive series of interventional cardiology procedures that were performed by expert operators during live demonstration courses, the procedural and 30-day clinical outcomes were similar to those found in daily practice and to those that have been reported in the contemporary published data. These results suggest that broadcasting live case demonstrations in selected patients from selected centers may be safe.