The Role of Coronary Sinus Reducer Devices in Patients with Refractory Angina

Editorials
Avraj Virdi
21/03/2024

Take home messages

  • In the UK, angina affects 3-4% of the adult population with 20,000 new cases each year. Refractory angina leads to significant disability, limited quality of life, multiple medications, and frequent hospital admissions.
  • The Coronary Sinus Reducer device is implanted percutaneously into the coronary sinus and creates a controlled narrowing of the lumen which leads to an increase in pressure in the coronary sinus and hence improves perfusion to ischaemic territories of the myocardium.
  • This device is a potentially safe, efficient and cost-effective solution for patients with refractory angina when standard of care treatment with anti-angina medication and revascularisation fails.
Introduction

Ischaemic heart disease is a leading cause of death worldwide and stable angina is the commonest symptomatic manifestation affecting 112 million people (1, 2). In the UK, angina affects 3-4% of the adult population with 20,000 new cases each year (3). The majority of these patients improve symptomatically with interventions such as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery by-pass graft surgery (CABG) (4,32). However, there is a group of patients with refractory angina who are increasingly challenging to manage in clinical practice (4).