Update on stents: Recent studies on the TAXUS® stent system in small vessels

Small vessel size (<3 mm) has been identified as an independent predictive factor of restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention when using bare metal stents (BMS). It remains controversial whether BMS placement in small vessels has an advantage over balloon angioplasty in terms of angiographic and clinical outcomes. The advent of drug eluting stents (DES), either paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES) or sirolimus-eluting stents (SES), has strongly impacted interventional cardiology by significantly reducing restenosis and the need for repeat revascularization. Therefore, it was also expected that DES could substantially reduce restenosis in smaller vessels. However, even in the DES era, small vessel size remains an independent predictor of angiographic and clinical restenosis. To date, only a few studies systematically investigate the clinical effect of DES placement in small vessels. In addition, some potential issues with the use of DES have been raised, such as late stent thrombosis and late restenosis. In order to (i) establish the superiority of DES over BMS; (ii) verify the efficacy and safety of DES; and (iii) critically assess the superiority of one DES over the other in patients with small coronary arteries, further multicenter, randomized clinical trials with larger sample size are warranted

The Dutch experience in percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of narrowed saphenous veins used for aortocoronary arterial bypass

Abstract Of 19,994 percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty procedures performed in The Netherlands between April 1980 and January 1989, the long-term follow-up of 454 patients who underwent angioplasty of ≥1 saphenous vein bypass graft was reviewed. In 46% of patients single graft angioplasty was attempted, and in 54% of patients sequential graft angioplasty was attempted. The clinical primary success rate was 90%. In-hospital mortality was 0.7%, 2.8% of patients sustained a procedural myocardial infarction, and 1.3% of patients underwent emergency bypass surgery. After a follow-up period of 5 years, 74% of patients were alive, and 26% were alive and event-free (no myocardial infarction, no repeat bypass surgery or repeat angioplasty). In patients in whom the initial angioplasty attempt was unsuccessful, only 3% were event-free at 5 years, versus 27% of successfully dilated patients. The time interval between the angioplasty attempt and previous surgery was a significant predictor for 5-year event-free survival. The event-free survival rates for patients who had bypass surgery 1 year before, between 1 and 5 years, and 5 years before angioplasty, were 45, 25 and 19%, respectively. Less than one-third of patients with previous bypass surgery who had angioplasty of the graft remained event-free after 5 years. In patients needing angioplasty within 1 year after bypass surgery, better long-term results were achieved

Multimodality Imaging to Detect Vulnerable Plaque in Coronary Arteries and Its Clinical Application

Postmortem studies have described the association between the thin-cap fibroatheroma (TCFA) and the occurrence of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Both noninvasive and invasive techniques have been refined and used as a research tool to visualize the plaque at a high risk of disruption. There has been a considerable effort to develop the imaging modalities that offer detailed visualization of coronary pathology and accurately predict the adverse cardiac outcomes. This chapter provides an overview of the current and experimental coronary imaging methods to detect vulnerable plaque and discuss the potential implication of multimodality imaging in clinical practice