Direct percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is now the standard first-line therapy for all patients. However, few studies on PCI in young patients with AMI and Kawasaki disease have been published. Herein, we report a case of AMI in a 26-year-old man with a history of Kawasaki disease. Emergency coronary angiography showed a thrombotic occlusion of the ...

During the past decade, advances in device technology (eg, drug-eluting stents), development of safer anticoagulants (eg, bivalirudin), and refinement in procedural techniques have led to a dramatic improvement in the effectiveness and safety of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), despite increasing clinical and anatomic complexity of treated patients.1 As safety and effectiveness have be...

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is increasingly used to treat coronary heart disease. Despite major technologic advances, however, not even drug-eluting stents confer long-term immunity from cardiac events, as disease progression causes significant morbidity after PCI. Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) accurately detects ischemia and stratifies risk when performed 2 months or more aft...

We report two cases of successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using a 4-in-3 "Slender Mother and Child" PCI technique. In both cases, coronary angiography revealed severe stenosis of the right coronary artery (RCA). In both cases, 5-Fr sheathless guiding catheters were inserted into the RCA (virtual 3-Fr PCI) but stents could not pass through because of stents previously implanted ...

I nvented by Andreas Grüntzig in 1977, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has revolutionized the management of coronary artery disease.1 Initially, PCI was more attractive than conventional revascularization with coronary artery bypass grafting because it was less invasive, but as time went on PCI acquired its own evidence base of improved clinical outcomes. In fact, for ST-elevation myoc...

BACKGROUND Current guidelines recommend treatment of significant coronary artery disease by concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients undergoing surgical aortic valve replacement. However there is no consensus as to how best to treat coronary disease in high-risk patients requiring transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). METHODS/DESIGN The percutaneous coronary in...

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) has been an important modality in understanding the in vivo pathophysiology of coronary artery disease and in predicting outcome of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The IVUS features associated with acute coronary syndromes include positive remodeling, large plaque burden, ruptured plaque, and intracoronary thrombus. Plaque burden, lesion site calcium, a...

Dear Editor, Currently, coronary stent implantation is employed in approximately 90% of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) cases. Despite the use of drug-eluting stents (DES), coronary in-stent restenosis (ISR) remains an Achilles’ heel of PCI and can occur in about 10% of patients in the real-world population.1,2 We explored the effi cacy of a novel approach using drug-eluting balloon (D...

With the increase in life expectancy, the proportion of very elderly people is increasing. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is an important cause of mortality and morbidity in this age group, for which myocardial revascularization is often indicated. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the very elderly bears the inherent risks of complications and mortality, but the potential benefits may ...

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using balloon angioplasty with stenting has become a mainstay in the treatment of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Over one million PCI procedures were performed in the U.S. alone in 2000, nearly one-half of which involved placement of a coronary stent (1). This number is expected to increase as more revascularization procedures that were pre...