title: Coronary atherectomy. An alternative to balloon angioplasty.
abstract: To date, physicians at our hospital have performed coronary atherectomy on 15 patients. Of these patients, four needed open heart surgery. One patient needed surgery because a vessel was dissected during the procedure, and the three other patients had unsuccessful procedures. One patient died due to a cerebrovascular bleed related to the anticoagulation therapy required for the procedure. Of the remaining patients, three had no reocclusion and four had reocclusion at their six-month follow-up examinations. The remaining patients have not had a six-month follow-up examination. The restenosis rate at our institution is 25%. It is hoped that catheter-mediated atherectomy will be an effective, predictable transluminal treatment of single or multiple focal stenosis. Because of the small patient sampling and short duration follow-up, no trends have been established. A six-month follow-up with angiography will establish patency and restenosis rates.
authors.affiliation: Lancaster (Penn) General Hospital.
authors.forename: L P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Good
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Gentzler
mesh_terms: D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000451:nursing / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011182:Postoperative Care; D011300:Preoperative Care; D012008:Recurrence; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods