Stents were initially used to manage or prevent acute vessel closure after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). The first direct randomized comparison with respect to restenosis showed the superiority of stenting to PTCA for de novo lesions situated in native vessels 3 mm or larger (1,2). In these trials, stenting was associated with a 25% to 30% reduction of restenosis as com...

A puzzling feature of many medical innovations is that they simultaneously appear to reduce unit costs and increase total costs. We consider this phenomenon by examining the diffusion of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA)--a treatment for coronary artery disease--over the past two decades. We find that growth in the use of PTCA led to higher total costs despite its lower unit...

There is controversy regarding the application of angioplasty to patients with multivessel disease in whom all significant stenoses are not dilated. We analyzed the outcomes of 286 patients with multivessel disease and prior successful angioplasty at a mean follow-up duration of 26.2 months. End points analyzed included death, myocardial infarction, late revascularization, and angina pectoris. ...

T he pathogenic process of atherosclerosis is the principal cause of a reduced lumen and of thrombotic and vasoconstrictive mechanisms that all lead to chronic and acute manifestations of ischaemic heart disease, the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in western societies. More than 25 years have passed since Andreas Gruntzig changed the course of interventional cardiology by introducing ...

There is controversy regarding the application of angioplasty to patients with multivessel disease in whom all significant stenoses are not dilated. We analyzed the outcomes of 286 patients with multivessel disease and prior successful angioplasty at a mean follow-up duration of 26.2 months. End points analyzed included death, myocardial infarction, late revascularization, and angina pectoris. ...

Introduction: The risk of developing coronary artery disease (CAD) for both men and women is increasing in society today. Over the past twenty-five years, the concepts of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and stenting have become dominant modalities in the treatment of CAD. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, PTCA was seen as the best possible alternative to bypass surgery ...

In the 1970s and early 1980s, randomized trials comparing coronary bypass surgery with medical therapy emphasized the indications for coronary revascularization. In these trials and database studies, the major benefit of surgery over medical therapy upon survival was among 'sicker' patients, characterized by the severity of ischaemia, the extent of coronary disease and the presence of left vent...

Gruentzig A: Transluminal dilatation of coronary artery stenosis. Lancet 1: 263, 1978 Kent KM, Bentiusglio LG, Block PC, et al: Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty: report from the NHLBI registry. Am J Cardiol 49: 2011-2020, 1982 Doros G, Cowley MI, Simpson J, et al: Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty report of complications from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institut...

OBJECTIVE To disclose possible influences of alcoholic beverages on restenosis rate in men with coronary artery disease treated with percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and stent implantation. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. PATIENTS 225 consecutive male patients underwent PTCA and stent implantation. All patients had a control angiography and were contacted for a quest...

Previous studies have shown that inhibition of the proto-oncogene c-myb inhibits neointimal formation in various animal models. However, the temporal and spatial expression of c-Myb in the vessel wall after injury is not known, and the mechanism of action of antisense oligonucleotide (AS-ODN-c-myb) inhibition remains unclear. One potential effect of cell cycle dysregulation by inhibition of c-m...