ORLANDO — Gender issues and robotics in interventional cardiology take the spotlight as the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) meeting kicks off here Wednesday. Can robotic assistance ease PCI and lower radiation exposure for operators? In the opening late-breaking trial session, the CORA-PCI study will report on safety and feasibility of robotics-assisted PCI, including for complex lesions. Friday’s late-breakers feature a suite of studies looking for sex-based differences in outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). One, a subanalysis of the randomized BRAVO 3 trial, will report whether either sex has an advantage with bivalirudin (Angiomax) over unfractionated heparin for TAVR. Other late-breaking studies of note include: ATHENA I & II: Final results will be revealed for these randomized, double-blind studies, which had been halted over safety concerns with cerebrovascular events, showing whether regenerative cells drawn from a patient’s own fat during same-day liposuction are safe for heart failure patients with ischemic heart disease. RENEW: This phase III trial will give a verdict on safety and efficacy of CD34+ stem cells for patients with refractory angina based on exercise tolerance, angina frequency, and adverse events out to 2 years. ORBID: This single-center, prospective study will offer predictors of side branch occlusion after stenting in coronary bifurcation lesions. Optical coherence tomography aids in the analysis of plaque morphology. APPOSITION V: Can a self-apposing bare-metal stent beat a balloon-expandable stent in PCI patients? Rates of target vessel failure and stent malapposition will be revealed for the Stentys and Vision stents. Featured clinical studies include several looks at orbital atherectomy — 3-year results from ORBIT II, 30-day findings from COAST, and a multi-center registry — and a study on bioresorbable vascular scaffolds, comparing a strategy of using one such device at a time versus two.