Late coronary thrombosis secondary to implantation of paclitaxel-eluting stent without restenosis of conventional stents.

A male 39 year-old patient with post-infarction angina. The coronary angiography showed total proximal obstruction of right coronary artery (RCA), obstructive lesions of 95% of the anterior descending artery (ADA), 80% of the second left marginal branch (LM2), and 95% of the circumflex artery (CXA). The patient was successfully implanted with a Taxus 3.0 x 24 mm stent and an Express 2.75 x 24 mm stent in the proximal and distal thirds of the RCA, respectively, and with an Infinnium 3.0 x 24 mm stent in the ADA. After seven months, the patient had an anterior acute myocardial infarct (AMI) due to thrombosis of the Infinnium stent and restenosis of the Taxus stent, with no loss of results in the conventional stents.

Randomized comparative study of diamond-like carbon coated stainless steel stent versus uncoated stent implantation in patients with coronary artery disease.

OBJECTIVE: To compare restenosis and major cardiac event rates at one and six months after DLC-coated stent implantation with those of uncoated stents. METHODS: Randomized, prospective, comparative study of 180 patients with coronary insufficiency undergoing DLC coated stent (Phytis) or uncoated stent (Penta) implantation, from January, 2003 to July, 2004. Inclusion criteria were: de novo lesion with >50% diameter stenosis in a coronary artery with reference diameter > or = 2.5 mm and < or = 4 mm, and length < 20 mm. Exclusion criteria were: left main coronary artery and bifurcation lesions, chronic total occlusion, and in-stent restenosis. RESULTS: Clinical and angiographic baseline characteristics of the groups were similar. Procedural success was achieved in 98.9% of the patients in both groups. One cardiac death occurred in each group during hospitalization. Reference diameter and acute gain were greater in the Penta group (3.21 +/- 0.37 mm vs. 3.34 +/- 0.8 mm, p=0.02 and 2.3 +/- 0.5 vs. 2.49 +/- 0.5, p=0.009, respectively). Angiographic follow-up at six months showed similar rates of restenosis (24.3% vs. 21.8%, p=0.84) and of major cardiac events (16.8% vs. 17.5%, p=1). CONCLUSION: DLC coated stents did not provide better outcomes in relation to uncoated stents.