INTRACORONARY STENTING WITHOUT COUMADIN - ONE MONTH RESULTS OF A FRENCH MULTICENTER STUDY

In order to simplify post-coronary stenting treatment and to obtain a lower rate of complications, especially in bailout situations, seven F rench institutions treated 246 stented patients with 0.25 g/day of tic lopidine, 0.1 g/day of IV aspirin, and 2 days of heparin followed by l ow-molecular-weight heparin for 1 month. Fifty percent of patients had a planned stenting procedure, and 50% had an unplanned procedure, inc luding 29 (11.8%) in bailout situations. Subacute occlusion occurred i n three (1.2%) patients (one death, two non-Q-wave infarctions). Durin g the 1 month follow-up period, another death was reported (non-stent- related), two elective coronary artery bypass grafts were performed, a nd three additional patients presented with non-Q-wave myocardial infa rctions. Nine (3.7%) patients had a groin complication that required b lood transfusion or surgical repair. These results suggest that while waiting for the technological advancements of stents, postprocedural t reatment that includes a low dosage of ticlopidine, aspirin, and low-m olecular-weight heparin is a very effective alternative to conventiona l poststenting therapy. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.