CLINICAL AND ANGIOGRAPHIC OUTCOME AFTER IMPLANTATION OF A HOME-MADE STENT FOR COMPLICATED CORONARY ANGIOPLASTY

To defray the escalating costs of coronary stenting, we handmade a bal loon-expandable, stainless steel stent, which after experimental evalu ation, was implanted in 156 patients undergoing PTCA complicated by a major dissection. The procedural success rate was 98%. The in-hospital course was characterized by a 1.3% cardiopulmonary mortality and a 4. 5% nonfatal myocardial infarction rate, while emergency bypass surgery and early repeat PTCA were necessary in only one patient each (0.6%). Clinical 6-mo follow-up in 150 patients revealed no deaths and no myo cardial infarctions, and the event-free survival rate was 82%. Six-mon th control angiography was performed in 93.3% of eligible patients and revealed a restenosis rate of 20%. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.