Several studies have demonstrated effective reduction of intimal hyperplasia within a drug-eluting stent (DES) when compared with a bare metal stent (BMS), thereby resulting in a lower incidence of target lesion revascularization.1–3 Restenosis at the stent edges, however, is not appreciably reduced by DES. Thus, to understand stent edge effect in DES, it is important to improve the efficacy of...

Background: There have been reports on stent-related vascular erosions about patients with benign or malignant stenosis of the esophagus who received endoscopic stent insertion for palliative intention for oral intake. Case presentation: A 61-year-old woman with esophageal cancer located in the middle part of esophagus was treated with esophagectomy. Two years following the surgery, malignan...

PURPOSE Radioactive stents have been proposed as endovascular irradiation device to prevent in-stent restenosis by inhibiting neointimal proliferation. 32P-stents have been used in several studies so far, but require large-scale labeling procedures and endovascular barotrauma for stent expansion supporting the development of edge restenosis. Purpose of this study was to establish dosimetry of a...

BACKGROUND Intravascular irradiation with beta-emitters has been proposed for inhibition of restenosis in coronary arteries after balloon angioplasty or stent implantation. Previous studies have shown the effectiveness of gamma-radiation to prevent recurrent restenosis, even in the presence of an implanted stent. The limited range of beta-particles compared with gamma-radiation, however, opens ...

BACKGROUND Ectopic substernal thyroid is a rare symptom of thyroid disease that entirely results from the developmental defects at early stages of thyroid embryogenesis and during its descent. Cases were seldom reported as primary ectopic substernal thyroid cancer, especially those with severe local invasion and tracheal relapse. CASE PRESENTATION In this report, the patient presented odynoph...

PURPOSE Patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer typically have a poor prognosis. The aims of these studies were to design radioactive stents and to evaluate the feasibility and safety of the stents in animals. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN To combine the effects of stents and brachytherapy, plastic stents with inserted iodine-125 seeds were designed and tested in 18 normal pigs. The pigs were divided...