title: Deliverability of integrity coronary stents in severely tortuous coronary arteries: a preliminary experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Stent delivery failure occurs in 4% of all percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) and >90% of these failures are due to vessel tortuosity and/or calcification. Stent performance of the newly launched Integrity coronary stent has markedly improved due to its novel manufacturing process utilizing continuous sinusoid technology. We sought to evaluate the deliverability of Integrity coronary stents in severely tortuous coronary lesions in real-world clinical practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  From January to August 2011, a total of 35 patients (25 males; mean age, 60.7 ± 11.4 years) with obstructive coronary artery disease involving severely tortuous coronary vessels underwent PCI with Integrity coronary stents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most common target vessel for PCI was left circumflex artery (54.3%) followed by right coronary artery (42.8%) and left anterior descending (2.9%), with 37.1% of lesions located distally. Mean stent diameter was 3.04 ± 0.51 mm and mean stent length was 20.5 ± 6.6 mm. Acute procedural success was achieved in 33 patients (94%) using conventional PCI techniques. Predilatation was performed in 31 patients (89%) and buddy wires were used in 12 patients (34.3%). For the 2 cases (6%) in which stent delivery failed, Heartrail catheters were used as a bailout to facilitate stent delivery. There were no peri- or postprocedural adverse events.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This early experience with Integrity coronary stent in severely tortuous coronary arteries yielded a promising result in terms of stent deliverability. It could potentially shorten PCI procedural time in this technically challenging subgroup of patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, 11, Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore 308433. hokai_wah@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Hee Hwa
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: Fahim Haider
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Jafary
authors.forename: Kwok Kong
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Loh
authors.forename: Julian Ko Beng
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Yau Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Ooi
authors.forename: Paul Jau Lueng
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Ong
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001241:Aspirin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000077144:Clopidogrel; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000628:therapy*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D062645:Percutaneous Coronary Intervention / Q000379:methods*; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015607:Stents; D013988:Ticlopidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors; D000077144:Clopidogrel; D013988:Ticlopidine; D001241:Aspirin