Fluorescence-activated flow cytometry has been used to investigate platelet activation in blood flowing through atherosclerotic coronary arteries after sustaining mechanical damage induced by percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTCA). For flow cytometry, platelets and platelet-derived microparticles were identified by biotinylated anti-glycoprotein (GP) Ib monoclonal antibody (mAb) and a flu...

AIMS The aim of the study was to compare the 10-year follow-up results of patients with or without restenosis following single-vessel percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 313 patients with successful PTCA (> or = 20% reduction in luminal diameter narrowing without acute complications) and a control angiography 6 months after PTCA were included ...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether higher coronary blood flow, estimated by the corrected Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) frame count (CTFC), is related to better functional and clinical outcome after successful percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). BACKGROUND Experimental studies have f...

OBJECTIVES We investigated whether the benefits of stent implantation over balloon percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) for treatment of chronic total coronary occlusions (CTO) are maintained in the long term. BACKGROUND Several randomized trials have shown that in CTO, stent implantation confers clinical and angiographic mid-term outcomes superior to those observed after PTC...

BACKGROUND This study seeks to analyze changes in the practice of PTCA in California between 1989 and 1995 by use of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) data set. METHODS AND RESULTS All hospital discharges in 1995 with a procedure code for PTCA or stent were identified. The 1995 PTCA data were compared with previously published data from 1989 obtained from the sam...

RESULTS The PTCA group had significantly greater improvements in physical functioning, vitality and general health at both three months and one year, but not at three years. These quality-of-life scores were strongly related to breathlessness, angina grade and treadmill exercise time both at baseline and at one year. The treatment differences in quality of life are explained by the PTCA group’s...

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 ...

Percutaneous coronary angioscopy was used in 13 patients in a pilot study to assess the intracoronary changes that occur during the first hour after balloon angioplasty (PTCA). The dilated segment was studied with 4.5F angioscopes and with quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) immediately after PTCA and at 15-minute intervals for up to 1 hour after PTCA. Significant progression of intimal dis...

A 20 year old man with severe chest pain was hospitalised for acute myocardial infarction. Coronary angiography revealed total obstruction of his right coronary artery, which was successfully recanalised by direct percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). There was also diffuse thrombi in the left coronary artery that was not recanalised by perfusion with 3000 U pro-urokinase. Anti...

BACKGROUND Overviews of trials suggest that percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) may be more effective than thrombolysis. However, whether these effects are sustained beyond hospital discharge, and the extent to which the results are applicable to a broad cross section of patients and the wider community are unknown. We compared the effectiveness of primary PTCA and thrombolysi...