BACKGROUND Little is known about patterns in the use of carotid revascularization since a 2004 Medicare national coverage decision supporting carotid artery stenting. We examined geographic variation in and predictors of carotid endarterectomy and carotid stenting. METHODS Analysis of claims from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2006. Pat...

Methods. The prospective study included 36 patients with coronary artery bifurcation lesion treated with stenting between January 1999 and December 2001 at the Institute for Heart Disease, Skopje University Center. There were 23 men and 13 women, with a mean age of 62.5±12.3 years. Seventeen patients had acute myocardial infarction and 19 patients had unstable angina. The follow-up lasted 6 mon...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE Patients with lesions of the proximal left anterior descending coronary artery are a special high-risk group. In the present study we analyzed the efficacy and safety of coronary stenting in such lesions and the factors related to a less favorable prognosis in long-term follow-up. METHODS Ninety-eight consecutive patients with severe left anterior descending artery ...

We present a case of a 66-year-old lady with chest pain, without dynamic 12-lead electrocardiographic (ECG) changes and normal serial troponin. Coronary angiography revealed a linear filing defect in the first obtuse marginal branch of the circumflex artery indicating coronary artery dissection, with superadded thrombus. She was managed medically with dual antiplatelet therapy and has responded...

BACKGROUND Currently, only anecdotal information exists on the presentation and outcome of coronary arterial injury after ablation procedures. METHODS AND RESULTS Four patients who sustained coronary artery injury of a cohort of patients undergoing 4655 consecutive ablation procedures (0.09%) are described. The patients' mean age was 45+/-11 years, and 1.8+/-0.5 prior ablation attempts had be...

Staged or combined carotid endarterectomy (CEA) offers the potential benefit of decreased neurological morbidity during and after cardiac surgery; however, the strategy for treating unstable high-risk patients, who need urgent coronary artery surgery, remains unresolved. We report in-hospital and 30-day outcomes of 23 consecutive patients admitted with unstable angina, who underwent carotid ang...

There is no current guideline for percutaneous coronary angioplasty in stenotic ectatic coronary arteries because of the heterogeneity of the coronary artery morphology. We report two successful angioplasty cases in coronary artery ectasia with different clinical scenarios. One case showed atherosclerotic stenosis in the ectatic portion of the right coronary artery that was aggravated after a c...