CORONARY-ARTERY ANGIOPLASTY WITH A HELICAL AUTOPERFUSION BALLOON CATHETER

The initial in-hospital and long-term clinical experience with a helic al autoperfusion balloon catheter in the treatment of coronary artery disease is reported, This new catheter design allows blood to flow pas sively around the inflated balloon through a protected helical channel molded into the balloon surface, Twelve consecutive patients underwen t PTCA. Continuous ST monitoring, heart rate, average peak distal coro nary blood flow velocity (APV), coronary blood flow (CBF), dP/dt and s ystemic and pulmonary arterial pressures were determined during PTCA, During balloon inflation there were no hemodynamic changes, TIMI flow was 1.7 +/- 0.8, and APV was 39% of baseline, Luminal diameter stenosi s improved from 61 +/- 17 to 29 +/- 13% (P < 0.05) following PTCA. Mea n continuous inflation duration was 385 +/- 215 sec and 6/12 patients had greater than or equal to 7.5-min inflations. There were no in-hosp ital adverse cardiac events. One patient developed recurrent angina du ring 8 mo of follow-up and underwent successful PTCA of a restenotic l esion. We conclude that human plaques can be successfully dilated with a helical balloon catheter that provides autoperfusion and the abilit y to perform prolonged inflations with hemodynamic stability, A compar ison of this PTCA catheter with standard balloon catheters is warrante d. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.