OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of variable dose and release kinetics of paclitaxel on neointimal hyperplasia. BACKGROUND Conventional paclitaxel-eluting stents use a durable polymer coating as a vehicle for drug delivery. The Conor stent (Conor Medsystems, Menlo Park, California) with intra-strut wells and erodable polymer is specifically designed for drug deliver...

BACKGROUND Drug-eluting stents (DES) have been in clinical use for nearly a decade; however, the relative short- and long-term efficacy and safety of DES compared with bare-metal stents (BMS) and among the DES types are less well defined. METHODS AND RESULTS PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) were searched for randomized clinical trials, until March 2...

IMPORTANCE Little is known about the geographic and hospital variations of the new medical technologies in Medicare. Even less is known about these variations for the privately insured. OBJECTIVE To examine geographic and hospital variations in the diffusion of drug eluting stents, comparing Medicare and privately insured populations. DESIGN Retrospective analyses of discharges from the Sta...

BACKGROUND Treatment of in-stent restenosis with paclitaxel-coated balloon catheter as compared with plain balloon angioplasty has shown surprisingly low late lumen loss at 6 months and fewer major adverse cardiac events up to 2 years. We compared the efficacy and safety of a paclitaxel-coated balloon with a paclitaxel-eluting stent as the current standard of care. METHODS AND RESULTS One hun...

BACKGROUND Intravascular ultrasound of drug-eluting stent (DES) thrombosis (ST) reveals a high incidence of incomplete stent apposition (ISA) and vessel remodeling. Autopsy specimens of DES ST show delayed healing and hypersensitivity reactions. The present study sought to correlate histopathology of thrombus aspirates with intravascular ultrasound findings in patients with very late DES ST. ...

The information presented comes from a case report concerning a left anterior descending coronary artery aneurysm (CAA). The typical "zig-zag" phenomenon, developed exactly within the segment of the sirolimus-eluting stent (SES), and in the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD). The patient had a previous history of rheumatoid arthritis. We speculated that the CAA could be related to t...

Background—Polymer formulation may affect the efficacy of drug-eluting stents. Resolute, Endeavor, and ZoMaxx are zotarolimus-eluting stents with different stent platforms and different polymer coatings and have been tested in clinical trials. The aim of this analysis was to compare the efficacy of zotarolimus-eluting stents with different polymers. Methods and Results—Data were obtained from t...

Background—Drug-eluting stents (DES) have been in clinical use for nearly a decade; however, the relative short-and long-term efficacy and safety of DES compared with bare-metal stents (BMS) and among the DES types are less well defined. Methods and Results—PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) were searched for randomized clinical trials, until March 2012...

BACKGROUND As a substudy of the large, randomized ZEST (Comparison of the Efficacy and Safety of Zotarolimus-Eluting Stent with Sirolimus-Eluting and PacliTaxel-Eluting Stent for Coronary Lesions) trial comparing first- and second-generation drug-eluting stents, we evaluated intimal hyperplasia (IH) and vascular changes using volumetric intravascular ultrasound analysis. METHODS AND RESULTS C...