OBJECTIVES To compare clinical outcome in patients with complex coronary lesions treated with either excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA) or balloon angioplasty. PATIENTS AND DESIGN 308 patients with stable angina and a coronary lesion of more than 10 mm in length were randomised to ELCA (151 patients, 158 lesions) or balloon angioplasty (157 patients, 167 lesions). The primary clinical ...

BACKGROUND The use of balloon coarctation angioplasty instead of surgery as treatment for unoperated coarctation of the aorta is controversial. The efficacy and complications of the two procedures have not been studied before in a prospective fashion. METHODS AND RESULTS Thirty-six patients were prospectively randomized to either angioplasty (20 patients) or surgery (16 patients). Immediate r...

Operator radiation exposure during percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty as compared with that during routine coronary angiography is unknown. Therefore, cumulative radiation exposure at operator eye level was measured in two physicians (operators 1 and 2) during performance of coronary angioplasty and routine coronary angiography. The physicians participated together during angioplast...

In patients with fibromuscular dysplasia and renal artery stenosis, renal artery revascularization has been used to cure hypertension or to improve blood pressure control. To provide an up-to-date assessment of the benefits and risks associated with revascularization in this condition, we performed a systematic review of studies in which hypertensive patients with fibromuscular dysplasia renal ...

A total of 32 (3.6%) patients of 880 undergoing coronary angioplasty during a nine year period at one hospital had extensive dissection (defined as a dissection extending beyond the limits of the dilated angioplasty balloon) in the coronary artery in which the angioplasty procedure was performed. Two (6.25%) of the 32 patients (both of whom were undergoing angioplasty because of unstable angina...

BACKGROUND Although the benefits of primary angioplasty in acute myocardial infarction have been demonstrated, several areas for improvement remain. Therefore, a prospective randomized trial comparing primary stenting with balloon angioplasty in patients with acute myocardial infarction was conducted. METHODS AND RESULTS Patients with acute myocardial infarction were randomly assigned to unde...

OBJECTIVE We prospectively investigate the relation between baseline circulating endothelial progenitor cells and the subsequent development of restenosis after angioplasty of hemodialysis vascular access. BACKGROUND Effect of angioplasty for hemodialysis vascular access is greatly attenuated by early and frequent restenosis. Circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play a key role in ...

AIM The study reported here aimed to examine how stent-assisted angioplasty affects cognitive status and serum levels of amyloid betas (Aβs) 1-40 and 1-42 in patients with cerebral arterial stenosis. METHODS Patients with cerebral arterial stenosis were given stent-assisted angioplasty plus conventional treatment (stent-assisted angioplasty group) or conventional treatment alone (control grou...