Why is this study important? 

Intravascular lithotripsy (Shockwave Medical) is a relatively new strategy in modifying coronary calcium to facilitate percutaneous coronary intervention. Dr. Butala et al. set out to evaluate how real-world adoption of the technology has impacted interventional cardiology patients. Patients were studied based on hospital submission data from the NCDR's CathPCI Registry. The study looked at what calcium modification strategy was used, which included intravascular lithotripsy, rotational atherectomy, and orbital atherectomy.  

What question does the study set out to answer? 

The study looks to answer the question of how calcium modification strategy changes when a disruptive technology (Shockwave Medical) is introduced.

What did the study show?

The study showed that after 2021 (when intravascular lithotripsy was introduced), more patients had calcium modification done, and the implementation of shockwave being rapidly adopted. Rates of IVL increased year over year, and during this time, rates of atherectomy decreased. In hospitals that performed IVL procedures, 10.2% of the time, IVL was used to facilitate PCI procedures. In all cases, IVL is now the most common strategy for calcium modification (48%).