Unprotected left main coronary artery stenting: immediate and medium-term outcomes of 140 elective procedures.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to evaluate immediate and late outcomes after stenting for left main coronary artery (LMCA) stenosis. BACKGROUND: Conventional percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), for which coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) has been the gold standard therapy for years, has yielded poor results in unprotected LMCA lesions. The development of coronary stents, together with their dramatic patency improvement provided by new antiplatelet regimens and their validation against restenosis, warrants a reappraisal of angioplasty in LMCA stenosis. METHODS: From January 1993 to September 1998, 140 consecutive unselected patients with unprotected LMCA stenosis underwent elective stenting. Group I included 47 high-CABG-risk patients, and group II included 93 low-CABG-risk patients. Ticlopidine without aspirin was routinely started at least 72 h before the procedure and continued for one month. Patients were reevaluated monthly. A follow-up angiography was requested after six months. RESULTS: The procedure success rate was 100%. One-month mortality was 9% (4/47) in group I and 0% in group II. A follow-up angiography was obtained in 82% of cases, and target lesion revascularization was required in 17.4%. One-year actuarial survival was 89% in the first 29 group I patients and 97.5% in the first 63 group II patients. CONCLUSIONS: Stenting of unprotected LMCA stenosis provided excellent immediate results, particularly in good CABG candidates. Medium-term results were good, with a restenosis rate of 23%, similar to that seen after stenting at other coronary sites. Stenting deserves to be considered a safe and effective alternative to CABG in institutions performing large numbers of PTCAs.

Clinical experience with a new biocompatible phosphorylcholine-coated coronary stent.

AIMS: The BiodivYsio stent is a new stent coated with phosphorylcholine, a biocompatible molecule designed to reduce the formation of thrombus and potentially the risk of restenosis. The feasibility, safety, and efficacy of elective and urgent implantation of this coated coronary stent were prospectively studied. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied 224 patients who underwent elective (67%) or bail-out implantation of 303 BiodivYsio stents in 286 lesions. Most lesions (62%) had unfavorable characteristics (type B2 or C) and half of them (50%) had thrombus and/or chronic total occlusion. Clinical follow-up was obtained in all patients at one month and in the first 132 patients at six months. Repeat angiography was undertaken in all patients with recurrent ischemia. Successful stent deployment was achieved in 284 lesions (99.3%). One emergency coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) was required. Angiographic success rate was 98.3% (281/286). There was 1 (0.4%) subacute stent thrombosis associated with Q-wave myocardial infarction and two (0.9%) in-hospital deaths. Reference vessel diameter was 2.82 +/- 0.32 mm. Minimum luminal diameter (MLD) increased from 0.38 +/- 0.25 mm to 2.97 +/- 0.35 mm and diameter stenosis decreased from 83.8 +/- 12.1% to 5.8 +/- 9.7%. Clinical restenosis rate was 6.1% (8/132 patients) at 6-month follow-up. Target vessel revascularization rate at 6-month follow-up was 5.4%. CONCLUSIONS: This initial clinical experience indicates that the implantation of stents coated with phosphorylcholine appears to be safe and efficacious in the treatment of complex coronary lesions and is associated with an extremely low target vessel revascularization rate.

[Right intra-atrial extension of hydatid cyst mimicking cardiac thrombosis. Apropos of a case]. / Extension intra-auriculaire droite d'un kyste hydatique simulant une thrombose cardiaque. A propos d'un cas.

The authors describe an unusual case of hydatid cyst inserted in the inferior vena cava and extending into the right atrium. The transoesoesophageal echocardiographic appearances were similar to those of a thrombus: the tumour was very mobile, echogenic, polylobular with a cord-like pedicle in the inferior vena cava. The pathological examination revealed a ruptured hydatid cyst. The mass and its insertion were not visible on CT scan or cavography. Transoesophageal echocardiography would therefore seem to be a very useful diagnostic method for tumours arising in the inferior vena cava and extending into the right atrium.

[Pilot study of the efficacy of ticlopidine in early patency of coronary endoprostheses]. / Etude pilote de l'efficacité de la ticlopidine dans la perméabilité précoce des endoprothèses coronaires.

Subacute thrombosis of coronary stents is the main complication of this technique. The authors studied the outcome of 387 patients and 400 coronary arteries who underwent implantation of 427 stents between December 1989 and February 1994 and followed up one month after the procedure: all patients receive 500 mg of ticlopidine daily from three days before angioplasty throughout the hospital period and continued for at least one month. Anticoagulation with heparin was undertaken by the intravenous route after implantation and relayed with subcutaneous heparin for one week until control coronary angiography performed in the first 300 patients. At one month, 96.9% of patients were free of clinical coronary events. The following major complications were observed: 5 deaths (1.3%), 5 Q wave myocardial infarctions (1.3%); no emergency bypass surgery. The peripheral vascular complication rate was 3.6%. Univariate analysis three risk factors of subacute thrombosis: age (p = 0.0058), arterial diameter of less than 3 mm (p < 0.01) and implantation for occlusive dissection (p = 0.03). Multivariate analysis showed two independent risk factors: age (p = 0.001) and arterial diameter of less than 3 mm (p = 0.01). This pilot study shows a particularly low subacute thrombosis rate in unselected indications with an acceptable level of vascular complications.

Ticlopidine and subcutaneous heparin as an alternative regimen following coronary stenting.

Subacute thrombosis of coronary stents may occur up to the end of the first month after their implantation and remains the major problem associated with the technique. A cohort of 238 patients with placement of one or more stents in 244 arteries was monitored for this period. All patients were given 500 mg/day of ticlopidine (started 3 days before) and a push dose of 10,000 IU of heparin during the procedure, then 1,000-1,500 IU/hr for 20 hr. Following removal of the arterial introducer, they were kept on subcutaneous heparin for 1 week and ticlopidine (500 mg/day) for 3-6 months. Nine patients (3.8%) showed evidence of thrombosis at 7 days. The overall thrombosis rate at 30 days was 4.2% (3.5% for elective stents, as compared with 7.9% associated with occlusive dissections). Emergency treatment by further angioplasty (8 cases) and intracoronary thrombolysis (5 cases) was undertaken. Complications were as follows: 5 deaths (2%), 3 MI (1.2%), 2 non-Q MI (1.7%). Three predictive factors for subacute thrombosis were identified: age < 70 (p = 0.00006), unstable angina (p = 0.006) and arterial diameter less than 3 mm (p = 0.043). The peripheral vascular complication rate was 4.6%. This study suggests that preventive treatment with ticlopidine appears to reduce the incidence of subacute thrombosis of stents in patients > 70 years of age. Furthermore, the combination of ticlopidine and heparin facilitates laboratory monitoring after stenting. Stenting is thought to represent definitive treatment in situations where placement for occlusive dissection is the indication.

Coronary artery stenting without anticoagulation, aspirin, ultrasound guidance, or high balloon pressure: prospective study of 1,051 consecutive patients.

Between March 1994 and November 1995, 1,212 coronary stents were implanted in 1,051 consecutive patients at our institution with the following protocol: daily pre- and poststenting treatment with ticlopidine 500 mg without aspirin, implantation under angiographic guidance, without ultrasound, with semi-compliant balloons inflated at 10 bars. Stenting was indicated after failure of balloon angioplasty (bail-out, dissection, elastic recoil) in 27% of the patients and considered as elective (de novo, restenosis, chronic occlusion, saphenous vein grafts) in 73% of the cases. During the 30-day follow-up period, stent thrombosis occurred in 11 patients (1.0%) and vascular access-site complications in three patients (0.3%). Thirteen patients (1.1%) died, 10 from previous left ventricular failure, 3 (0.3%) from subacute thrombosis. Multivariate analysis revealed that the size of the last balloon used was associated with subacute stent thrombosis Thus, in nonselected patients, placement of coronary stents may be safely achieved without use of warfarin, post procedural heparin, high balloon pressure, or ultrasound guidance. Antiplatelet therapy with ticlopidine and angiographic guidance result in a stent thrombosis rate of 1% and a vascular complication rate of 0.3%.