Since the approval of the drug-eluting stents (DES) in April of 2003 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a year earlier in Europe, the rise of DES had been phenomenal, a feat rarely seen in contemporary medicine. With much lower in-stent restenosis compared to their bare metal counterparts, use of DES in interventional cardiology immediately become the default choice in the cardiac catheterization laboratory. The randomized trials that led to the approval of both initial DES [sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) and paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES)] were applicable to a highly selec

ABSTRACT: MGuard is a bare-metal stent covered by an ultra-thin polymer mesh sleeve on its external surface, designed to reduce embolization during coronary, cerebrovascular and peripheral interventions. Aim. To evaluate the feasibility and safety of MGuard-based percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) of human native coronary arteries (NCs) and coronary vein grafts (VGs). Methods. MGuard-based PCI executed by 2 centers with postprocedural clinical and laboratory monitoring; including creatinine phosphokinase (CPK), troponin, electrocardiography and 6-month angiographic

Randomized, Controlled Trial with 12-Month Angiographic Follow Up

ABSTRACT: Background. The aim of this study was to compare the use of classic bare- metal stents with dedicated bifurcation bare-metal stents in patients who were not eligible for drug-eluting stents (DES) implantation. Methods. Sixty patients with bifurcation stenosis were randomly assigned to received either a dedicated bifurcation or a  bare-metal stent (n = 30) or classic bare-metal stent (n = 30) with stenting of the parent vessel and angioplasty/or provisional stenting of the side branch.