A SINGLE-STEP STENT DELIVERY, DEPLOYMENT, AND EXPANSION SYSTEM

Placement of intracoronary stents now comprises a significant number o f the percutaneous coronary revascularization procedures being perform ed in high-volume interventional laboratories in the United States, St ents have become popular because of the reliable acute results, and de creased restenosis, The most common stent currently in use in the Unit ed States is the Palmaz-Schatz balloon-expandable stent (PS stent). Th is stent delivery system (SDS) usually requires predilatation with a b alloon and another dilatation, after stent deployment, with a high-pre ssure balloon in order to adequately expand the stent. We report on a new hybrid stent-delivery system using the PS stent, the sheath from t he SDS, and an NC Bandit balloon. This new hybrid system is safe and s ignificantly decreases the procedure time, fluoroscopy time, and need for additional stents due to angiographic dissection resulting from in exact postioning of the high-pressure balloon within the initially dep loyed stent, and/or due to inadequate placement of the first stent. Th is may be an ideal delivery system for single stent deployment using c urrently approved FDA equipment. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.