PERIPHERAL ARTERIAL ANGIOPLASTY BALLOONS AS ADJUNCTS TO PERCUTANEOUS CORONARY REVASCULARIZATION

Although PTCA balloon technology has improved dramatically since the f irst catheters were introduced over a decade ago, some limitations rem ain. The largest conventional balloon size available is 4.0 mm diamete r, Larger size balloons are sometimes necessary for saphenous vein gra ft dilatation or in very large native coronary arteries, Also, adjunct ive balloon angioplasty is used frequently after atherectomy and other coronary device therapy, Current generation balloons are not always n ecessary in this setting, since a large lumen has already been establi shed. Thus, it has become useful in our laboratory to use peripheral a rterial angioplasty balloons for both large coronary vessel dilatation , and also for adjunctive dilatation after device use, We describe our initial experience with peripheral arterial angioplasty balloons as a djuncts to percutaneous coronary revascularization. (C) 1994 Wiley-Lis s, Inc.