PURPOSE To develop a technique for intravascular magnetic resonance (MR)-guided balloon angioplasty with use of an MR imaging guide wire. MATERIALS AND METHODS An MR imaging guide wire (0.6-mm loopless antenna) that could be placed within a balloon catheter was manufactured. The guide wire was expected to function as either an MR receiver probe in real-time MR imaging or a guide wire for use ...

BACKGROUND The effectiveness of balloon angioplasty is limited by a restenosis rate of approximately 30%. Recombinant desulphatohirudin (r-hirudin [CGP 39393]) has been found to be highly effective in preventing acute platelet-rich thrombosis after deep arterial injury as compared with heparin. METHODS AND RESULTS This study evaluated the effect of intravenous r-hirudin, a selective inhibitor...

A coronary stent is stainless tube with slots. It is mounted on a balloon catheter in a "crimped" or collapsed state. When the balloon of is inflated, the stent expands or opens up and pushes itself against the inner wall of the coronary artery. This holds the artery open when the balloon is deflated and removed. Coronary artery stents were designed to overcome some of the short comings of angi...

In 12 patients (aged 64±10 years) with femoropopliteal occlusions (1-27 cm; average, 8.4 cm length) that could not be recanalized by standard guidewire-balloon angioplasty techniques, percutaneous laser-assisted balloon angioplasty was performed by use of a new fluorescenceguided dual-laser system. Plaque detection by 325-nm laser-excited fluorescence spectroscopy provided real-time feedback co...

BACKGROUND The use of balloon coarctation angioplasty instead of surgery as treatment for unoperated coarctation of the aorta is controversial. The efficacy and complications of the two procedures have not been studied before in a prospective fashion. METHODS AND RESULTS Thirty-six patients were prospectively randomized to either angioplasty (20 patients) or surgery (16 patients). Immediate r...

Objectives—To compare clinical outcome in patients with complex coronary lesions treated with either excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA) or balloon angio-

AIMS Angioplasty of lesions in small coronary arteries remains a significant problem because of the increased risk of restenosis. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of elective coronary stent placement and optimal balloon angioplasty in small vessel disease. METHODS One hundred and twenty patients with lesions in small coronary arteries (de novo, non-ostial lesion and reference...

Because many ongoing clinical restenosis prevention trials are using quantitative angiography to assess whether a drug is capable of reducing the amount of intimal hyperplasia, quantitative angiographic risk factors for angiographic luminal narrowing after balloon angioplasty were determined, including stretch and elastic recoil at the dilatation site. Quantitative analysis was performed on 666...

OBJECTIVE To examine the use of balloon angioplasty in the treatment of native adult aortic coarctation. DESIGN Haemodynamic and angiographic studies to establish the diagnosis of aortic coarctation were established before carrying out the procedure in all patients. SETTING All the studies and angiographic procedures were performed in a large district general hospital within the departments...

An electrogram was recorded from the angioplasty catheter guide wire when coronary blood flow was interrupted in 20 patients undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. Monophasic action potentials were recorded from the right ventricular septum together with the routine electrocardiogram. The patients were studied during angioplasty for lesions in the left anterior descending (1...