PRELIMINARY EXPERIENCE WITH STENT-SUPPORTED CORONARY ANGIOPLASTY IN LONG NARROWINGS USING THE LONG FREEDOM FORCE STENT - ACUTE AND 6-MONTH CLINICAL AND ANGIOGRAPHIC RESULTS IN A SERIES OF 27 CONSECUTIVE PATIENTS

This report describes our preliminary experience with coronary stent-s upported angioplasty in long narrowings using a long stent with an inn ovative design, Twenty-seven consecutive patients with target lesions > 20 mm in length had a stenting procedure using the Freedom Force lon g coronary stent (Global Therapeutics, Inc., Broomfield, CO), Target l esion length ranged from 20.7-57.5 mm (mean, 27.66 +/- 9.41 mm), A tot al of 35 stents was implanted with a mean stented length of 36.26 +/- 12.36 mm, The stenting procedure was successful in all patients, Singl e long stent implantation was performed in 19 patients, while 8 patien ts had double stent implantation. No major cardiac adverse events occu rred during hospital stay. The restenosis rate at the 6-mo angiographi c follow-up was 38% (follow-up rate, 96%). During follow-up, no major cardiac events such as death, myocardial infarction, or coronary arter y surgery occurred, while 3 patients (11%), all with recurrent angina and angiographic restenosis, underwent repeat coronary angioplasty. Po tential advantages of this innovative stent in long narrowings relate to its high flexibility in passing through long tortuous diseased segm ents, and in treating long lesions using only 1 or 2 stents. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.