July 2002
|Volume 14 Issue 7
Direct coronary stenting is a new technique that consists of direct stent implantation without balloon predilatation of the target lesion. This strategy is now technically possible because of the improvements in crossing profile, flexibility, safety…
The presence of thrombus within coronary lesions is associated with an increased incidence of abrupt vessel closure, peri-procedural myocardial infarction and death after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). In addition to improved…
Case Description. This patient is a 54-year-old woman with a history of coarctation of the aorta who underwent surgical repair 34 years ago, with placement of a Dacron graft (1 cm in diameter) from the ascending to descending aorta. Anatomically, she…
Antagonists of platelet receptor glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa are a novel class of antithrombotic agents that provide more comprehensive platelet blockade than the combination of aspirin and heparin. Studies of patients scheduled for percutaneous coron…
Cardiac catheterization and coronary angiography (CA) carry a small but definite risk of complications. In a review of different series, mortality rates ranged from 0.02–3.70% and myocardial infarction rates ranged from 0.0–7.4%.1,2 In recent series,…
Head Up Tilt Table testing (HUTT) is often associated with a lengthy two-staged protocol (with and without isoproterenol). Recently, Shen and colleagues described a single-stage isoproterenol HUTT.1 The purpose of this study was to compare the introd…
Although thrombus-containing lesions were previously considered as a contraindication for stenting, accumulating data regarding stenting in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and in the presence of angiographically apparent thrombus reveal promising r…
The percutaneous arm approach through the radial or brachial artery is becoming more popular throughout the world for left heart catheterization and coronary angiography as a safe alternative to the standard cut-down brachial arteriotomy and the per…
What features are desirable for a diagnostic angiographic catheter in the cardiac catheterization laboratory? In general, we require both safety and efficacy. More specifically, tip deformability or “softness”, and tip radiopacity are features that m…
In-stent restenosis (ISR) has become a major clinical problem. The rate of ISR is 7–37% of patients who undergo stent implantation and is dependent on patient characteristics, lesion morphology, and procedural technique.1 The recurrence rate after tr…