CONCEPT OF THE HOMEMADE CORONARY STENT - EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND INITIAL CLINICAL-EXPERIENCE

To defray the escalating cost of coronary stenting, we handmade a ball oon expandable coil stent with stainless steel wire. Preliminary compa rison with the Palmaz-Schatz stent showed that, when implanted in porc ine iliac arteries, there was no difference in immediate angiographic results or in the degree of foreign body reaction at 6 wk. Subsequentl y, a total of 73 stents were implanted in 52 patients, either as a bai lout device (54%) or for suboptimal angiographic results (46%). All bu t two implantations were successful. The postprocedural regimen consis ted of heparin 1,000 IU/hr, aspirin 250 mg daily, and ticlopidine 500 mg daily. In-hospital complications were limited to two groin hematoma s, one necessitating blood transfusion. Importantly, stent thrombosis was not observed. While 6-mo follow-up is pending, we already conclude that a balloon expandable coil stent can be handmade easily at low co st and implanted safely in patients. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.