Footnotes

• Contributors We wish to state that: this is an original manuscript; it is not under consideration elsewhere; none of its contents have been previously submitted or published; and all authors have read and approved the manuscript. SG, HS and PM were involved in conception and design, drafting of the manuscript and revision, and final approval of the manuscript submitted.

• Competing interests The authors’ institution has ownership interest in or has received consulting fees, travel expenses or study honoraries from the following companies: Abbott, Access Closure, AGA, Angiomed, Arstasis, Atritech, Atrium, Avinger, Bard, Boston Scientific, Bridgepoint, Cardiac Dimensions, CardioKinetix, CardioMEMS, Coherex, Contego, CSI, EndoCross, EndoTex, Epitek, Evalve, ev3, FlowCardia, Gore, Guidant, Guided Delivery Systems, Inc., InSeal Medical, Lumen Biomedical, HLT, Kensey Nash, Kyoto Medical, Lifetech, Lutonix, Medinol, Medtronic, NDC, NMT, OAS, Occlutech, Osprey, Ovalis, Pathway, PendraCare, Percardia, pfm Medical, Rox Medical, Sadra, SJM, Sorin, Spectranetics, SquareOne, Trireme, Trivascular, Velocimed, Veryan.

• Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.