EuroPCR 2019 News: BOWIE Study

I’ve always enjoyed attending the annual EuroPCR conference as it is a fantastic way to learn the latest data and hear about exciting new technologies and approaches in interventional cardiology. At this year’s EuroPCR, we had the privilege of seeing new data presented on the HeartFlow Planner – a real-time, non-invasive interactive planning tool (still investigational at present).

The BOWIE (Benefits of Obtaining information for planning With non-invasive FFR_CT prior to Invasive Evaluation) study was presented by Eric Van Belle, M.D., Ph.D, of the Lille Heart & Lung Institute as a late-breaking trial. BOWIE is a retrospective study that included 101 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and also who had undergone CTA, HeartFlow Analysis, and invasive coronary angiography. Three interventional cardiologists independently reviewed the diagnostic invasive angiogram for each patient and provided a treatment recommendation based on that alone. The same three interventional cardiologists then reviewed each patient’s HeartFlow Analysis and used the investigational HeartFlow Planner to virtually explore different treatment scenarios and provide a treatment recommendation based on that alone. The study then compared the two independent treatment recommendations.

The study found that use of the investigational HeartFlow Planner:

• Led to a different treatment strategy in 45% of patients, 31% of all vessels, and 66% of vessels with serial lesions
• Reduced the need for invasive FFR

The conclusion of the investigators was: “The results emphasize the potential benefit of the use of a real-time interactive FFR_CT planner pre-angiography to help inform revascularization decision making, optimize completeness of revascularization, and streamline resource utilization among CAD patients.”

The investigational HeartFlow Planner is an interactive tool that enables interventional cardiologists and heart teams to modify vessels virtually and view the resulting FFR_CT changes in real time. This tool allows the non-invasive study of treatment scenarios prior to an invasive procedure. The HeartFlow Planner is currently not available for commercial use and is under review with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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— A perspective from HeartFlow Chief Medical Officer, Campbell Rogers, MD
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