We wish to raise an expression of concern regarding the article titled “Modified Floating Wire: A Novel Aorto-Ostial Coronary Stenting Technique” (1). Dr. Franck Digne has expressed significant concerns (ticket #539179, 12th Sep 2024) about potential overlap between this article and his own work (https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jcin.2024.06.025), titled “Optimizing Stent Placement in Aorto-Ostial Lesions: Introducing the New Floating Balloon Technique”, published in JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions on August 21st, 2024.
Dr. Franck Digne’s key concerns include similarities in the core concept, wording, technical details, and procedural structure. After a careful investigation by the Editor-in-Chief and the head of the Ethics Committee, along with an official response from the corresponding author of the Mansouri et al. article, the following findings were confirmed:
1- The technique described in both articles is not novel and has not been registered or recognized as intellectual property by Digne et al. Consequently, it cannot be regarded as proprietary or exclusive to him.
2- While both articles describe similar interventional techniques, the authors of the MCA article did not assert or imply that they were the first to develop or perform this technique. Furthermore, Mansouri et al. have clearly avoided making any claims suggesting originality or priority in using this approach. Meanwhile, they have used Digne et al.'s paper references as one of the article references.
Furthermore, since the article in MCA was submitted earlier than the JACC article (the article by Mansouri et al. submitted on March 8, 2024, and the article by Digne et al. submitted on June 13, 2024), it confirms that the authors of MCA did not commit any idea appropriation or plagiarism. Plagiarism did not occur in this case; however, due to our commitment to transparency with our readers, we are publishing the entire claim as an expression of concern in this journal.
Sincerely Yours,
Editor-in-Chief of Multidisciplinary Cardiovascular Annals
Rajaei Cardiovascular, Medical and Research Center, Tehran, Iran
