Background: Pulmonary vein stenosis (PVS) is a rare and often lethal condition in children. The optimal treatment for congenital and postoperative PVS is unknown. Methods and Results: We compared outcomes of conventional balloon angioplasty performed for PVS from 1999 to 2003 against cutting balloon angioplasty performed from 2004 to 2007. A total of 100 previously undilated pulmonary veins in ...

Editorial Should balloon angioplasty be used instead of surgery for native aortic coarctation? Several groups have used transluminal balloon angioplasty of native aortic coarctation to treat aortic coarctation since the technique was first described in the early 1 980s. Arguments about whether balloon angioplasty is an effective and safe alternative to surgery have been intensified by reports t...

BACKGROUND In vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated both anticoagulant and antiproliferative effects of heparin. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of local intramural delivery of heparin, using heparin-coated hydrogel balloons, on platelet deposition and early smooth muscle cell proliferation after in vivo balloon angioplasty. METHODS AND RESULTS The effects of local he...

AIMS This study was conducted to analyse flow velocity parameters and predictors of a suboptimal coronary flow reserve (<2.5) following balloon angioplasty. METHODS Two hundred and twenty-five patients underwent sequential intracoronary Doppler as part of the DEBATE I study. Of these, 183, with complete angiography and Doppler at the 6-month follow-up, were included. Univariate and multivaria...

BACKGROUND Despite their potential advantages, new coronary angioplasty devices may be associated with more frequent vascular complications than noted after standard balloon angioplasty, theoretically due to the larger sheaths and prolonged periods of anticoagulation required by some of these devices. This study sought to identify the incidence, predictors, and clinical outcome of vascular comp...

It is difficult to think of balloon angioplasty as a mature technique with which new devices must now be compared. It seems as if it were only yesterday that Gruentzig demonstrated a new and radical approach to myocardial revascularization.1 As success rates have leveled off at 90% or higher, half or more of current patients have complex or multivessel disease, bail-out methods and surgical bac...

BACKGROUND Coronary-stent placement is a new technique in which a balloon-expandable, stainless-steel, slotted tube is implanted at the site of a coronary stenosis. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of stent placement and standard balloon angioplasty on angiographically detected restenosis and clinical outcomes. METHODS We randomly assigned 410 patients with symptomatic cor...

BACKGROUND Treatment of instent restenosis after carotid artery stenting because of circumferential or calcified lesions can be difficult and refractory to conventional balloon angioplasty. We describe the off-label use of a cardiac scoring balloon that was used for lesions refractory to angioplasty with other balloons. CASE DESCRIPTIONS Two patients with a history of carotid artery stenting ...

OBJECTIVE Nitinol stenting could bring the better outcome in endovascular therapy for femoropopliteal disease. However, it might be expected that recent marked advances in both device technology and operator technique had led to improved efficacy of balloon angioplasty even in this segment. The aims of this study were to evaluate the clinical impact of balloon angioplasty for femoropopliteal di...

Periprocedural neurological complications (PNCs) after carotid stenting were retrospectively analyzed to determine the risk factors with the use of various protective devices. Forty-three lesions in 40 patients were treated by carotid stenting with distal balloon protection for nearly all postdilation procedures and some predilation procedures. The following variables were statistically analyze...