The clinical success of balloon angioplasty is limited by restenosis, which occurs in up to 50% of patients. Lumen compromise and restenosis are caused by acute elastic recoil and late constrictive remodeling and to a lesser degree by neointimal hyperplasia [1,2]. The application of bare metal stents (BMS) has revolutionized percutaneous coronary interventions by reducing the rate of clinical c...

New techniques and technologies have been developed in the past several decades for the endovascular treatment of arterial occlusive disease affecting the superficial femoral artery (SFA) and infrapopliteal arteries. Dedicated stents have been extensively used to address the problem of elastic recoil, flow-limiting dissection, and residual stenosis after balloon angioplasty. Their development h...

Treatment of in-stent restenosis lesions, especially calcified with stent underexpansion, generally requires more complex techniques, such as rotational atherectomy. The case reported is a male patient 99% focal lesion at the origin first diagonal branch, where two stents were implanted 14 years ago. After failure balloon angioplasty alone, ablation plaque and part struts was performed using at...

AIMS Lipoproteins and lipids, especially lipoprotein(a), have been studied as risk factors for restenosis after coronary angioplasty with conflicting results. We investigated the association between serum levels of lipoprotein(a) apolipoprotein A-1, apolipoprotein B-100, total-cholesterol, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol, triglycerides, and coronary luminal loss and restenosis after angiop...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate the immediate results and the 6-month angiographic recurrent restenosis rate after balloon angioplasty for in-stent restenosis. BACKGROUND Despite excellent immediate and mid-term results, 20% to 30% of patients with coronary stent implantation will present an angiographic restenosis and may require additional treatment. The opt...

See related article, pages 1766–1769. Symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic disease carries a significant risk for future ipsilateral ischemic events regardless of the use of warfarin or aspirin.1 Patients presenting with a lesion that is 70% appear to be most vulnerable with a 1-year risk of 23% for a subsequent ipsilateral event.2 Moreover, poor control of blood pressure and cholesterol ap...

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) has greatly benefited patients with occluded coronary arteries, but its benefits have been undermined by a high incidence of restenosis. The introduction of coronary stents has significantly improved the short and long term outcome but restenosis still occurs in approximately 15 to 30% of patients within 6 months. Research efforts are now be...

BACKGROUND Sirolimus-eluting stents have been developed to prevent restenosis in the treatment of coronary artery disease. We investigated the risk of restenosis with use of sirolimus-eluting stents compared with bare-metal stents to assess possible differences. METHODS We enrolled 352 patients in whom one coronary artery required treatment, with diameter 2.5-3.0 mm and lesion length 15-32 mm...

To determine the relative economic impact of alternative methods of coronary revascularization, in-hospital patient accounts were reviewed in 149 patients undergoing elective coronary angioplasty (n = 50), coronary atherectomy (n = 72) or intracoronary stent placement (n = 27) over an 18-month period. Clinical and angiographic features were similar in the 3 groups, except that prior restenosis ...

OBJECTIVES We examined the immediate and long-term outcomes after stenting of unprotected left main coronary artery (LMCA) stenoses in patients with normal left ventricular (LV) function. BACKGROUND Left main coronary artery disease is regarded as an absolute contraindication for coronary angioplasty. Recently, several reports on protected or unprotected LMCA stenting, or both, suggested the ...