CLINICAL AND IMMEDIATE AND MEDIUM-TERM RESULTS AFTER IMPLANTATION OF AVE ENDOCORONARY MICROSTENTS IN 140 CONSECUTIVE PATIENTS - A LAUSANNE EXPERIENCE

Two hundred AVE (Arterial Vascular Engineering) microstents measuring 4 to 30 mm were implanted in 140 patients aged 62 +/- 10 years with Cl ass II to IV angina of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Classificat ion. The indications were : de novo lesions (30 %), suboptimal angiopl asty results (54 %), acute occlusion (8 %) or restenosis (8 %). The st ents of 3.0 to 4.0 mm diameter were implanted in the left main coronar y artery (1 %) the left anterior descending artery (20 %), the left ci rcumflex artery (19 %), the right coronary artery (44 %) or a venous b ypass graft (7 %) after intravenous injection of 15000 IU of heparin.. Daily treatment with aspirin 100 mg and ticlopidine 500 mg was instit uted from the day of the procedure. The success rate was 98.5 % with o nly 3 technical failures. The minimal luminal diameter and percentage stenosis ranged from 0.80 +/- 0.2 mm and 74 +/- 13 % before to 2.66 +/ - 0.38 mm and 15 +/- 7 % after the procedure in vessels with an averag e reference diameter of 3.05 +/- 0.35 mm. There were 3 % of stent-rela ted immediate clinical complications. In February 1996, 97 patients ha d survived 6 months. With a 97 % follow-up rate, the clinical event ra te was 18 %. The angiographic follow-up rate was 70 % and the restenos is rate was 27 %. The authors conclude that the AVE microstents are ea sy to implant and provide excellent immediate angiographic results wit h a low complication rate.