T he worse long term outcome observed after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) than after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients at high risk of restenosis and disease progression such as diabetics, remind us that there is a substantial difference between treating a focal lesion with percutaneous coronary intervention and the use of arterial or vein grafts which b...

A self-limited rupture of a five month old saphenous vein bypass graft occurred during coronary angioplasty when the balloon used to stretch the vessel proved to be too large. A lack of fibrous tissue in the new graft may have predisposed it to rupture.

Anomalous origin of the left main coronary artery from the anterior aortic sinus is a rare but potentially lethal congenital disease. We report two adolescent patients with this anomaly who underwent surgical plasty using a saphenous vein patch, rather than unroofing or fenestration technique, as was typically done. This report suggests that surgical angioplasty can be performed safely and effe...

BACKGROUND Treatment of stenosis in saphenous-vein grafts after coronary-artery bypass surgery is a difficult challenge. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of stent placement with those of balloon angioplasty on clinical and angiographic outcomes in patients with obstructive disease of saphenous-vein grafts. METHODS A total of 220 patients with new lesions in aortocoronary-v...

P ercutaneous transluminal angioplasty is an accepted treatment for stenoses of bypass graft& and for total coronary artery occlusions.3-5 It follows that the same treatment would also be appropriate for total occlusions of saphenous aortocoronary bypass grafts. This report describes our clinical experience with attempted dilatation of totally occluded saphenous bypass grafts. Of the 2,679 cons...

We describe here two patients with angiographic diagnosis of intrastent restenosis and regional myocardial ischemia. One stent restenosis was located in a native coronary artery and the other in a vein graft. Both were treated with cutting balloon angioplasty (CBA), inflated at low pressures. Angiographic success was obtained and both patients were discharged in the day after the procedure. Cut...

conclusions the present case appears to offer a safe and relatively simple method of balloon dilatation inside the lumen of the embolized fragment when the foreign body is too distal to retrieve with conventional snare systems. introduction increasing numbers of complex percutaneous coronary interventions have been accompanied by various intra-procedural complications. the fracture and emboliza...

background: small side branches, albeit less important than their larger counterparts, have not yet received due attention in the literature. nor has there ever been a comparison between drug-eluting stents and bare metal stents apropos side branch occlusion . the aim of this study was to compare the patency of small (≥0.5 and ≤1.5 mm in diameter) side branches with respect to bare metal vs. dr...

background: redo coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (cabg) is associated with a higher risk of mortality than the first operation. however, the impact of percutaneous coronary intervention (pci) on the outcome in such patients is currently unclear. we evaluated the in-hospital and six-month clinical outcomes of post-cabg patients who underwent pci in our center. methods: between april 2008...

D espite innovative new techniques in percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) during the past 10 years, restenosis rates continue to occur at about 30% in subtotal lesions,' about 50% in chronic total occlusions,2 and up to 80% in saphenous vein bypass grafts.3 Although mortality remains acceptably low, urgent bypass surgery after unsuccessful angioplasty continues to be necessary...