Planning and guidance of complex percutaneous coronary interventions

Prof Ahmed Khashaba, qualified in medicine, specialized in cardiology and interventional cardiology at Egypt’s Ain Shams University Hospitals, and he gained the title of Professor of Cardiology at the same university. He is a member of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI) and a Fellow of the American Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions (SCAI). Having the interest to introduce and employ new technologies, he established the first TAVI program in Egypt in 2011. He was also the first to introduce and perform the following techniques to Egypt: IVUS-VH, OCT, total radial interventions, iFR, MDCT as well as 3D echocardiography. Recently, he performed the first orbital atherectomy in a private hospital in the middle east in UAE. He is also a proctor and trainer for consultants in most of these and other complex cardiac intervention procedures. Prof Khashaba shared as a principal investigator in many of the international multicenter studies in interventional cardiology, including the landmark DEFINE-FLAIR study. He was also the only cardiologist from the middle east to share in the production of the European consensus document for Rotablator usage. He has over 35 publications and over 90 oral presentations as a faculty member and live demonstrator at several national, regional and international cardiology meetings.

Angela McInerney is an Interventional Cardiologist at University Hospital Galway, Ireland. Following completion of her basic cardiology training in Ireland she was awarded the Brian McGovern Travelling Fellowship grant from the Irish Board for Cardiology Training in 2018 which allowed her to start her interventional fellowship in Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain. Following two years of coronary training including complex PCI, she was awarded an European Society of Cardiology Fellowship Training Grant and completed a further year of structural intervention also in Clínico San Carlos, Madrid. Her specialist interests are in intracoronary imaging, intracoronary physiology, calcium modification techniques and complex PCI. She has been keenly involved in various research projects pertaining to intracoronary physiology and intravascular imaging having authored and co-authored a number of research articles as well as review articles and book chapters on these topics. During her fellowship she also regularly partook in the preparation and delivery of educational courses in Clínico San Carlos and values the educational aspect of her role as a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist.

Dr Breda Hennessey graduated from the Third Faculty of Medicine in Charles University in Prague. Following this, she returned to Ireland to complete her general medical and higher specialist cardiology training. In 2019, she was awarded the Brian McGovern Scholarship by the Irish Cardiac Society, and this allowed her to commence her subspecialty training in Interventional Cardiology at Hospital Clínico San Carlos in Madrid. She completed a two-year coronary interventional fellowship, with a focus on intracoronary imaging, invasive physiology and ultra-low dose contrast intervention. Following completion of her coronary training, she undertook a further fellowship in structural intervention, also at Hospital Clínico San Carlos. In addition to her clinical work, she has been involved in various research projects pertaining to ultra-low dose contrast PCI, investigating the impact of new technologies in reducing contrast burden in complex PCI . She has authored and co-authored a number of research articles, book chapters and has contributed to the European association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions textbook. During her time at Hospital Clinico San Carlos, she completed a Masters in Interventional Cardiology and is currently undertaking a PHD at the Complutense University of Madrid with a focus in ultra-low dose contrast PCI. Throughout her fellowship, she regularly took part in the preparation and delivery of educational courses, both at Hospital Clinico San Carlos and in collaboration with other tertiary referral centres and international cardiology societies in Spain, the UK and the UAE.

An interventional cardiology director at Soroka Medical Center, Ben Gurion University, Israel. Features in 2 videos on Wondr Medical. Carlos Cafri generally speaks on Coronary Interventions, Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PPCI), and Multi Vessel Disease.

Tommaso Gori is Professor for translational vascular medicine at the University Medical Center of Mainz, Germany where he also leads the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and the Clinical Study Center. He obtained his title of Dottore in Medicina e Chirurgia (MD equivalent) from the University of Siena, Italy, and his PhD from the University of Toronto, Canada. He has worked in Siena, Italy, Toronto, Canada and Mainz, Germany. Dr Gori was winner of 19 international awards, among which the American Heart Association – S.A. Levine Young Investigator Award and the Young Investigator Award of the American College of Cardiology, both in the year 2001. Dr Gori has authored 300 peer-reviewed papers in the fields of endothelial (dys)function, mechanisms of action and effects of organic nitrates, physiology of the coronary circulation, oxidative stress, ischemic preconditioning, microcirculation and hemorheology and interventional cardiology (h-index 38). Dr Gori´s areas of clinical expertise include structural, peripheral and coronary interventions and imaging modalities.

Dr. Evan Shlofmitz is an Interventional Cardiologist and the Director of Intravascular Imaging at St. Francis Hospital - The Heart Center in Roslyn, NY. He completed a fellowship in Interventional Cardiology at Georgetown University/MedStar Washington Hospital Center. He previously completed an Intravascular Imaging and Physiology fellowship at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) and Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), a Cardiovascular Disease fellowship at Northwell Health and served as Chief Resident for Internal Medicine at New York Presbyterian Queens. He serves on SCAI's IHD Council and is a co-director of Optimizing PCI (OPCI). His research interests have centered on intravascular imaging, the treatment of calcified coronary artery disease, in-stent restenosis and the optimization of stent implantation, with more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Prof Goran Stankovic is a Professor of Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Head of the Department of Cardiology, Clinical Center of Serbia and Chief of Invasive Diagnostics and Interventional Cardiology. Prof. Stankovic was awarded Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC) in 2003, and Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC) in 2005. He has been a member of European Association for Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (EAPCI) since 2007 and is currently a member of the EAPCI Nominating Committee. He has been one of the founding members and is currently the president of the European Bifurcation Club, and a member of the Asian and Indian Bifurcation Clubs. Professor Stankovic serves on the editorial boards of Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Eurointervention, European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine, Advances in Interventional Cardiology Journal, and Heart and Blood Vessels – Journal of Cardiology Society of Serbia. For the consecutive years 2005-2014 Professor Stankovic was awarded Elite Reviewer for Journal of American college of Cardiology. In 2009 he received Simon Dack Award for outstanding Scholarship from the American College of Cardiology Foundation.

Dr. Hernán Mejía-Rentería is an Interventional Cardiologist at the Department of Cardiology, Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain. He graduated from the Medical School of Universidad del Valle (Colombia) and underwent specialty training in Cardiology at Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain. Subsequently, he completed his subspecialty training as Interventional Cardiologist in 2017 at the same institution. Dr. Mejía-Rentería obtained a PhD (Cum Laude) in coronary physiology in 2021 at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He is a member of European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI) and has published over 70 indexed scientific articles on coronary physiology, functional angiography, intracoronary imaging techniques and Takotsubo Syndrome, and is author of chapters in different academic textbooks. His main research areas at present include coronary physiology assessment with invasive and angiography derived techniques in patients with coronary artery disease or ischemia with non-obstructive coronary arteries.

Professor Jacek Legutko is an interventional cardiologist with over 25 years of experience in the field. His main research interest is focused on primary PCI in acute myocardial infarction, intravascular imaging and physiology lesion assessment in the cathlab, as well as complex percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). He has performed a series of studies in those areas and has participated in many clinical trials. Professor Legutko is a Course Director at the New Frontiers in Interventional Cardiology (NFIC), an international congress organized annually in Krakow, Poland since 1999. He has also served as a Faculty member, live case operator and facilitator for several interventional cardiology meetings including EuroPCR, PCR Africa, TCT, C3, CardioEgypt, and WCCI. Professor Legutko received several professional awards, including prestigious “Andreas Award” granted for his personal impute on the development of interventional cardiology in Poland.

Dr. Singh is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Medical Director, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Director of Interventional Cardiology. He specializes in coronary and peripheral vascular interventional procedures and spends most of his time in the cardiac catheterization laboratory. His expertise is in complex coronary intervention and also the endovascular treatment of renovascular hypertension, and peripheral arterial occlusive diseases. In addition, he has been involved in research ranging from new coronary devices to intravascular ultrasound and pressure/flow assessment of coronary vessels. He is the Principal Investigator in several high profile multicenter trials evaluating the above. He is actively involved in resident/fellow education and rotate in the coronary care unit twice a year. He has two interventional fellows per year who work closely with him during their training, he also serves as their attending in ½ day in patient clinic. He has second and third year cardiology fellows involved in clinical research protocols in the cath lab and their work has produced three instrumental abstracts/papers which in the first 12 months were presented at major cardiovascular society meetings. Dr. Singh is also the Chairman of ARCH, one of the largest Midwest Interventional Symposium.

Prof Javier Escaned is Head of Section (Interventional Cardiology Section) at Hospital Clinico San Carlos / Complutense University (Madrid, Spain). He trained in the United Kingdom as Specialist in Cardiology and obtained his PhD in The Netherlands. Author of >700 indexed scientific articles on interventional cardiology, imaging and physiology (h-index 100) and over 30 years of experience as PCI operator, he regularly lectures and performs live cases at major scientific and educational meetings. He is a recipient of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Silver Medal and the Andreas Grüntzig Award for his contributions to the fiedl fo Interventional Cardiology. Main areas of expertise include complex PCI, intracoronary diagnostics and functional coronary angiography. His track record in coronary physiology comprises being investigator on pioneer FFR trials like DEFER (1998), collaborator with Justin Davies in the validation and clinical implementation of iFR, and developer of new tools for the assessment of coronary microcirculation. Editorial roles include Deputy Editor EHJ, Advisory Editor Eurointervention, editor of the textbooks “Coronary Stenosis: Imaging, Structure and Physiology” and “Physiological Assessment of Coronary Stenoses and the Microcirculation". Recent board positions include EAPCI board / Education Committee Chair, ESC WG Coronary Pathophysiology and Microcirculation, EuroCTO Board. Recent trials as Principal Investigator include ADVISE II, DEFINE FLAIR, SYNTAX II, PIONEER IV, Cerebral-Coronary-Connection (C3), DCR4Contrast, INOCA LongCovid and AID ANGIO. Additional interests are philosophy and music.

Dr. Joo Myung Lee is an interventional cardiologist and Associated Professor in Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Korea. He is an high-volme operator (>400 PCI per year) and has been performed many researched in coronary physiology, intravascular imaging, CHIP PCI, acute myocardial infarction, and non-invasive imaging including N13-ammonium PET and CCTA. He conducted multiple randomized controlled trials such as FRAME-AMI trial, RENOVATE-COMPLEX-PCI trial. He has published numerous articles in major cardiology journals including JACC, Circulation, and EHJ, and general medicine journal including Lancet, JAMA, and New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr Justin Davies is a board member of Monaco Cardio at the Princess Grace Hospital, Monaco, and an interventional cardiologist with over 15 years of experience as a leading educator in the field. His clinical and academic career was established at Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London, where he built an international reputation for innovation in cardiovascular medicine. Over the course of his career, he has successfully mentored 15 PhD students, published more than 500 peer-reviewed papers — including landmark studies in the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet — and holds 20 patents in cardiovascular medicine and technology. He was the co-principal investigator of the DEFINE-FLAIR study, which helped establish iFR (Instantaneous Wave-Free Ratio), a diagnostic technique he invented, as a globally adopted standard in coronary physiology. His work reflects a unique blend of scientific innovation, academic leadership, and clinical excellence. In addition to his research and academic commitments, Justin is CEO of Cerebria AI, where he leads the development of next-generation AI-powered cardiovascular imaging and physiology tools. Under his leadership, Cerebria AI is advancing cutting-edge solutions that integrate artificial intelligence with frontline cardiology to enhance clinical decision-making and patient outcomes. Combining deep clinical expertise with entrepreneurial vision, he continues to guide international ventures through funding, regulatory pathways, and commercialization, while remaining committed to transforming cardiovascular care on a global scale.

Dr Kambis Mashayekhi is Head of the Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology in Heart Center Lahr in Germany. Dr. Mashayekhi is performing over 350 CTO-PCI’s per year and is an world-renowned CTO and complex PCI specialist. Dr. Mashayekhi is the head of the CTO working group from the German Society of cardiology and the Co-Director of MLCTO and EuroCTO course. He is the new EuroCTO president elect for 2023.

Nicola Ryan is a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. She received her medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (2008), followed by Internal Medicine (2011) and Cardiology training (2015) through the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland. Thereafter, she completed a prestigious Interventional Cardiology and research fellowship in Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid (2017). Dr Ryan's interests are primarily in the role of intra-coronary physiology and imaging, which she routinely applies in her clinical practice as well as in the clinical interventional research she leads in Aberdeen. She engages as a reviewer for several high impact journals. Dr Ryan is a member of the EuroPCR Scientific Committee and the PCR NextGen group, as well as a member of the European Society of Cardiology fellowship committee.

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 an interventional cardiologist at Hospital Clínico San Carlos in Madrid, Spain. He earned his medical degree from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and completed his training in cardiology and interventional cardiology at Hospital La Paz in Madrid. He later obtained his PhD from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. With over a decade of experience, Dr. Salinas is a highly skilled operator in complex percutaneous coronary interventions (CHIP and CTO). His expertise also includes patent foramen ovale closure, left atrial appendage closure, and pulmonary embolism intervention. Throughout his research career, Dr. Salinas has authored more than 100 indexed publications and is actively involved in multicenter clinical trials in the fields of PCI, stroke prevention interventions, and pulmonary embolism treatment. His clinical approach emphasizes the refinement of interventional techniques to achieve optimal outcomes while prioritizing the patient’s perspective and experience. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Salinas is actively engaged in education and training at a teaching university hospital with an international interventional fellowship program. He frequently participates in educational events and live case demonstrations. Outside of his professional commitments, he enjoys photography, tennis, and hiking mountain trails.

Ranil de Silva is Senior Lecturer in Clinical Cardiology at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London and Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at the Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK. He obtained his medical degree from King’s College London and undertook his PhD in PET imaging at the MRC Cyclotron Unit under Attilio Maseri. His post-doctoral research was at the National Institutes of Health, USA working on MRI guided endovascular intervention and cardiovascular regenerative medicine. His research focuses on imaging to guide the diagnosis, risk stratification and evaluation of novel therapies for patients with acute and chronic coronary syndromes. He leads translational interdisciplinary research programs on coronary atherosclerotic plaque biomechanics evaluated by fluid-structure interaction modelling, post-myocardial infarction left ventricular remodelling using diffusion tensor cardiovascular magnetic resonance, and coronary sinus reducer for treating coronary microvascular dysfunction. He has published more than 100 peer reviewed articles, including Circulation, European Heart Journal, JACC, Nature journals, Lancet and NEJM. He has an h-index 43. He leads the Specialist Angina Service at the Royal Brompton Hospital, which is a nationally recognised service for patients with refractory angina. He is an interventional cardiologist undertaking complex interventional procedures, coronary sinus reduction, LV support and the full range of intracoronary imaging and physiology techniques. He also has an interest in resistant hypertension and has experience in renal denervation.

Dr Richard A. Shlofmitz, MD, FACC is the Chairman of Cardiology at St. Francis Hospital, The Heart Center®, in Roslyn, New York. A pioneer in interventional cardiology, Dr. Shlofmitz has worked to advance the field, with a focus on optimizing outcomes with the development of Precision PCI. He is a founding co-director of the annual Intravascular Imaging and Coronary Physiology Workshop. Performing over 1,000 coronary interventions annually, he has one of the largest volumes of experience in PCI. He has the most clinical experience with orbital atherectomy and OCT world-wide. His clinical research interests focus on optimizing coronary interventions and he serves on multiple scientific advisory boards and clinical trial steering committees to further this mission. Dr Shlofmitz has been one of the largest enrollers for multiple clinical trials, including TWILIGHT, ILUMIEN III, and Onyx, with more than 75 publications in peer-reviewed journals and was first to perform coronary intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) in North America as part of the DISRUPT CAD III trial.

Dr Roberto Garbo is the Director of the CTO PCI, CHIP, and complex PCI program in Maria Pia Hospital GVM Care & Research, Turin, Italy. He was Head of the Cath Lab at San Giovanni Bosco Hospital from 2005-2020. He is the Director of the International Turin CTO & CHIP Live Congress. He has been Board member of EuroCTO Club from 2017 to 2023. Dr Garbo is one of the greatest experts in the world in the field of IVUS guided CTO in both antegrade and retrograde approach, with more than 2400 CTO of which more than 1100 retrograde CTO PCI. He performed as Live first operator more than 100 CTO PCI live cases during international CTO Congress . He is a Proctor for CTO PCI programs in Italy, Europe (France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Czech republic, Russia) and Middle East (Egypt, Saudi Arabia), as well as an expert and proctor for Rotational Atherectomy in very calcified lesion (more than 1000 cases as first operator). He is also involved in many scientific projects with more than 130 papers in the field of CTO and Complex PCI.

Works at Nanjing First Hospital,Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. Features in 2 videos on Wondr Medical. Shao Liang Chen generally speaks on Coronary Interventions, Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PPCI), and Bifurcation.

Dr Simon Walsh has been working as a Consultant Cardiologist at the Belfast Trust for over 10 years. It is one of the largest NHS trusts in the UK. The centre performs ~2750 PCI per year, with 650-700 STEMI and calcium modification in ~10% of our PCI cases. Dr Walsh also works internationally as an educator, teaching advanced techniques for complex PCI and CTO PCI. This involves training visiting Cardiologists in Belfast retrograde CTO techniques, antegrade dissection and re-entry CTO techniques and other advanced PCI procedures. He has visited multiple centres in the UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia, Asia and North America to act as a visiting proctor for complex PCI and CTO PCI cases. Dr Walsh’s research interests include PCI, coronary artery disease, defibrillation, acute coronary syndromes and chronic total occlusions. Research responsibilities have included acting as a recruiting investigator for the >25 multicentre studies over the last 17 years. He acted as a primary investigator for numerous international trials including the Evolve, Noble, Leaders Free and Ischemia multicentre studies. He has been the lead UK investigator for the October trial, Syntax 2, Recharge and Ischaemia-CTO. He is also the Chief Investigator for the Consistent CTO, Celtic Bifurcation and Discrete CTO trials.

Dr Sukhjinder Nijjer is a Consultant Cardiologist and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Imperial College London. He is the President of Cardiology at the Royal Society of Medicine and is the Communication Lead for the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society. He works at the Hammersmith Hospital as an Interventional Cardiologist and is an expert in Coronary Physiology. His PhD research focused on the development of instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) pullback and co-registration. He has published over 100 original academic papers and has involved in the DEFINE-FLAIR, SYNTAX-II and ORBITA-1 and ORBITA-2 research studies.

Dr Takayuki Warisawa is a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at NTT Medical Center Tokyo and St. Marianna University School of Medicine in Japan. After graduating with honours from the prestigious University of Tokyo, he concentrated on clinical work, especially in the field of cardiology, emergency medicine, and intensive care. He trained as an interventional cardiologist for five years at New Tokyo Hospital, which is renowned for high-level interventional cardiology and clinical research. There, he developed skill and insight for complex PCI procedure. He had also taken the role of the Director of Emergency Medicine. While working as an expert clinician, he performed many clinical studies focused on the invasive and non-invasive coronary physiology including NHPRs/FFR, IMR/CFR, Scintigraphy and Perfusion CMR. Many of the studies have been published in international journals and a selection have been awarded at the Japanese and international scientific congresses. After working at Imperial College London in U.K. for 2 years, Dr Warisawa has been working on several clinical studies with international collaborators, as well as working as a chief of coronary intervention division and a chief of cardiovascular intensive care unit at NTT Medical Center Tokyo. For his many contributions and activities, he has received many awards and accolades, and the most recent include: The Young Investigator Award at the 30th Japanese Society of Cardiovascular Intervention and Therapeutics in 2022, PCR's Got Talent Finalist at Euro PCR 2022, The 58th District Meeting of the Japanese Association of Cardiovascular Intervention and Therapeutics in Kanto Koshinetsu in 2021, The 25th Beyond Angiography Japan and Young Investigator Award, The Award for the Best Scientific Research, Tokyo Percutaneous Cardiovascular Intervention Conference 2017. He is a leading Japanese doctor who is active both in Japan and abroad.

Ziad Ali is the Director of the DeMatteis Cardiovascular Institute, Director of Investigational Interventional Cardiology, and Director of Cardio-nephrology at St Francis Hospital & Heart Center in New York. He is also Director of the Angiographic Core Laboratory at Cardiovascular Research Foundation and Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. His clinical research interests focus on the use of intravascular imaging and physiology technologies such as optical coherence tomography, intravascular ultrasound, and flow wire assessment to optimize coronary interventions, for which he has served as a Global principal investigator on a number of trials. Dr. Ali is also a recognized innovator, playing an integral role in the development of the Resting Full-Cycle Ratio (RFR) and Shockwave intravascular lithotripsy. Clinically Dr. Ali developed pioneering techniques to perform vascular interventions without contrast administration, including IVUS-guided zero-contrast PCI and OCT using saline flush media, protecting patients with advanced kidney disease from acute kidney injury and the need for dialysis.