AIMS Preliminary reports indicate that sirolimus-eluting stents reduce the risk of restenosis after percutaneous infrapopliteal artery revascularization. We conducted a prospective, randomized, multi-centre, double-blind trial comparing a polymer-free sirolimus-eluting stent with a placebo-coated bare-metal stent in patients with either intermittent claudication or critical limb ischaemia who h...

CONTEXT Bare-metal stenting with abciximab pretreatment is currently considered a reasonable reperfusion strategy for acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Sirolimus-eluting stents significantly reduce the need for target-vessel revascularization (TVR) vs bare-metal stents but substantially increase procedural costs. At current European list prices, the use of tirofiban inst...

Biliary stenting via endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography has greatly improved the quality of patient care over the last 30 years. Plastic stent occlusion limits the life span of such stents. Attempts to improve plastic stent patency duration have mostly failed. Metal stents (self-expandable metal stents [SEMSs]) have therefore replaced plastic stents, especially for malignant biliary...

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided hepaticogastrostomy with a fully covered metal stent is an option for malignant biliary obstruction after a failed endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) [1–3]; however, migration of the stent can be a fatal complication [3, 4]. We report a case in which a migrated stent was successful reset using a foreign body forceps. A 73-year-old woman deve...

We herein report two patients with unresectable malignant biliary stricture who underwent stenting with a newly developed fully-covered metal stent. In the first case of lower-middle bile duct cancer, a stent was placed through the stenosis. In the second case of middle bile duct stricture due to lymph node metastases from gallbladder cancer, a stent was placed in the bile duct across the steno...

BACKGROUND A catheter-based approach after fibrinolysis is recommended if fibrinolysis is likely to be successful in patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction. We designed a 2x2 randomized, open-label, multicenter trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the paclitaxel-eluting stent and tirofiban administered after fibrinolysis but before catheterization to optimize the results...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed at evaluating reduction in intimal hyperplasia volume following angioplasty using sirolimus-eluting stents (Cypher) compared with thin-strut bare-metal stents (Pixel) in patients with small vessels. METHODS Eighty patients with coronary artery disease were prospectively included in two consecutive series, the first using sirolimus-eluting stents (50) and the second ...

The clinical use of metallic expandable intravascular stents has resulted in imporved therapeutic outcomes for coronary artery disease. However, arterial reobstruction after stenting, in-stent restenosis, remains an important problem. Gene therapy to treat in-stent restenosis by using gene vector delivery from the metallic stent surfaces has never been demonstrated. The present studies investig...

BACKGROUND Heavy metal ions can cause allergic and inflammatory reactions that might be associated with in-stent restenosis. This randomized multicenter clinical study was designed to determine if carbon ion-implanted stents reduce luminal late loss by blocking heavy metal ion diffusion into the surrounding tissue. METHODS A total of 225 patients with 230 native coronary lesions were randomly...

Effective palliation of malignant biliary obstruction with conventional 10 or 12 French gauge straight polyethylene endoprostheses is limited by stent occlusion, which typically occurs four to five months after insertion. Short term follow up studies of self expanding metal stents (Wallstent, Schneider, UK) in the treatment of patients with malignant biliary obstruction have shown that their us...