title: Outcomes following interventions in small coronary arteries with the use of hand-crimped Palmaz-Schatz stents.
abstract: Although coronary stenting has been shown to be effective, retrospective studies have suggested that stents do not provide better results than angioplasty in small coronary arteries. We sought to examine procedural, in-hospital, and long-term outcomes of patients undergoing small-vessel stenting with Palmaz-Schatz stents hand-crimped on a balloon catheter <3 mm in diameter. We retrospectively analyzed the outcomes of 117 patients who underwent this type of coronary stent implantation at Duke University Medical Center between January 1, 1997 and May 30, 1998. The clinical indications for percutaneous revascularization included unstable angina in 67.5% of patients, acute myocardial infarction in 4.3%, postinfarct angina in 3.4%, silent ischemia in 3.4%, and stable angina in 1% of patients. Quantitative angiographic analysis was performed immediately before angioplasty and after stent implantation. Stents were used for elective indications in 24%, for suboptimal angiographic result in 61.5%, and for abrupt and/or threatened closure in 14.5% of patients. Reference vessel diameter was similar before and after the procedure. Minimum luminal diameter increased from 0.63 to 2.35 mm, an acute gain of 1.72+/-0.43 mm. Percent stenosis decreased from 74.2% to 4.7%. The clinical composite of death (n = 1, 1%), nonfatal myocardial infarction (n = 6, 5.1%), and revascularization (n = 1, 1%) occurred in-hospital in only 8 patients (6.8%), resulting in clinical procedure success in 109 patients (93%). Our data suggest that stents designed for vessels >3.0 mm can be deployed in small vessels, with a low in-hospital event rate. However, target lesion revascularization in small vessels remains high. Development of antiproliferative strategies could improve long-term outcomes for small-vessel interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, and the Duke Clinical Research Institute, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA. cohen018@mc.duke.edu
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Warner
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Wightman
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Greenbaum
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Tcheng
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Peter
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Sketch
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Muhlbaier
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Zidar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation; D015331:Cohort Studies; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015607:Stents; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome