a 55-year-old man referred for cardiac resynchronization therapy (crt) due to severe heart failure. a severe stenosis in the coronary sinus vein after the posterior branch disallowed the insertion of the lead. nevertheless, the stenosis was dilated and the left ventricle (lv) lead was implanted in the lateral marginal branch.

OBJECTIVES Retrospective analysis of five cases of coronary vein balloon angioplasty performed to allow insertion of left ventricular pacing leads. BACKGROUND Coronary vein stenoses or an insufficient vessel caliber can preclude transvenous placement of coronary vein leads. METHODS We compared our total patient population (n = 218), in whom we implanted coronary vein leads, to those five pa...

OBJECTIVES We attempted to answer the question, Is balloon angioplasty a reasonable alternative to repeat coronary artery bypass graft surgery in patients with previous coronary bypass graft surgery, medically refractory unstable angina and vein graft lesions? BACKGROUND Patients with medically refractory unstable angina need revascularization. Patients with previous coronary artery bypass gr...

A 57 year old man required emergency coronary artery bypass surgery after dissection of the left main coronary artery during percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. His symptoms recurred when the vein grafts became occluded. A dilatation device with the lowest profile was used to reduce the need for firm support from the guiding catheter during repeat percutaneous transluminal coronary ...

6. de Feyter PJ. Percutaneous treatment of saphenous vein bypass graft obstructions: a continuing obstinate problem. 7. Bejarano J. Mechanical protection of cardiac microcirculation during percuta-neous coronary interevntion of saphenous vein grafts. Int J Cardiol. In press. 8. Baim DS, Wahr D, George B, et al. Randomized trial of a distal embolic protection device during percutaneous intervent...

Diffuse coronary artery disease is frequently untreatable by coronary artery bypass or angioplasty. Many such "no-option" patients have been subjects for trials of angiogenesis using growth factor manipulation or laser injury. We think these novel revascularization strategies are limited by insufficient inflow to putative areas of new microvasculature and thus seek a more mechanical solution. W...

BACKGROUND Polymorphonuclear neutrophils are involved in the development of myocardial injury during ischaemia and reperfusion. Coronary angioplasty has been shown to result in neutrophil activation. This may be a result of contact with ligands expressed by endothelial cells or response to soluble stimuli released from ischaemic tissue into the plasma or both. OBJECTIVE To investigate plasma ...

Systemic markers of inflammation may be increased in patients after percutaneous coronary intervention. In the present study, we evaluated whether IP (ischaemic preconditioning) attenuated inflammation by activating KATP (ATP-sensitive potassium) channels in patients undergoing coronary angioplasty. Patients (n=36) undergoing angioplasty of a major left coronary artery were allocated randomly t...

BACKGROUND Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of ventricular tachycardia (VT) can fail because of inaccessibility to the VT substrate. Transarterial coronary ethanol ablation can be effective but entails arterial instrumentation risk. We hypothesized that retrograde coronary venous ethanol ablation can be an alternative bail-out approach to failed VT RFA. METHODS AND RESULTS Out of 334 consecutive...