BACKGROUND Drug-eluting stents are more effective in reducing restenosis than bare-metal stents. Less certain is the relative performance of 2 widely used drug-eluting stents-sirolimus- and paclitaxel-eluting stents-in diabetic and nondiabetic patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention in routine clinical practice. We therefore studied the long-term effectiveness and safety of sirol...

We compared the efficacy and safety of drug-eluting stents with that of bare-metal stents in patients who experienced acute ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention. To do this, we performed a meta-analysis of 13 randomized controlled trials in which drug-eluting stents were compared with bare-metal stents in STEMI patients. The...

Over the past decade, the use of endoluminal metallic stents has become common practice during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), especially after clinical trials showed evidence of decreased restenosis rates when compared with balloon angioplasty alone.1–3 Although stents significantly reduce restenosis when compared with balloon angioplasty, restenosis rates in patients who receive ste...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Drainage with metallic stents is the treatment of choice in malignant obstructive jaundice. Technical and clinical success with metallic stents is obtained in over 90% and 80% of cases, respectively. There are self-expandable metallic stents designed to increase permeability. The aim of this study was to describe the results obtained with totally covered self-expandable...

Esophageal cancer is the sixth leading cause of death from cancer worldwide [1]. Due to the esophagus distensible characteristics, patients may not recognize any symptoms until 50% of the luminal diameter is compromised explaining why cancer of the esophagus is generally associated with late presentation and poor prognosis [2]. Esophageal stents are devices used to maintain or restore the lumen...

OBJECTIVE To assess the clinical presentation of forgotten ureteral stents and highlight the etiological factors resulting in the retention of these stents. STUDY DESIGN Observational study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Department of Urology, Armed Forces Institute of Urology, Rawalpindi, from January 2010 to June 2011. METHODOLOGY Thirty-eight patients, with forgotten ureteral stents, ret...

The aim of our study is to compare the efficacy and safety of "outlet-shape" tailored stents with standard stents for the management of distal gastric cancer causing gastric outlet obstructions (GOOs) with varying gastric cavity shapes and sizes. To determine the shape and size of the GOOs, stomach opacifications were performed using contrast media before stenting. Two basic shapes of the resid...

BACKGROUND Randomized clinical trials have shown that a sirolimus-eluting stent significantly reduces restenosis after percutaneous coronary revascularization. Diabetic patients are known to have a higher risk of restenosis compared with nondiabetic patients. The purpose of this analysis was to determine the impact of sirolimus-eluting stents on outcomes of diabetic compared with nondiabetic pa...

BACKGROUND The usefulness of thin-slice multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) has been highly expected to assess the lumens of coronary artery stents. We evaluated the usefulness of 16-slice MDCT to assess the in-stent lumen after coronary artery stenting. METHODS In 42 consecutive patients after coronary artery stenting, retrospective ECG-gated CT-angiography using 16-slice MDCT (0.5-s r...

BACKGROUND Paclitaxel can inhibit vascular smooth muscle proliferation in vitro, and early studies suggest that paclitaxel may be useful in preventing restenosis. Early and late intimal growth and local vascular pathological changes associated with paclitaxel delivered via stents have not been fully explored. METHODS AND RESULTS Localized drug delivery was accomplished with balloon-expandable...