CORONARY STENT DEPLOYMENT WITHOUT PREDILATION - PREVENTION OF COMPLICATIONS OF VENOUS GRAFT ANGIOPLASTY

Saphenous vein graft stenting without predilation may potentially decr ease procedural complications such as distal embolization and no-reflo w phenomenon. In this report the authors describe the deployment of st ents (three Wallstents, one Palmaz-Schatz, one Multilink, and one NIR) without predilation in five patients with unstable angina pectoris du e to high-grade stenosis in old saphenous vein grafts. Stent deploymen t was successful in all patients without procedure-related complicatio ns. Stenting without predilation appears to be feasible in old bypass grafts with significant stenosis. The potential of this new stenting t echnique to reduce the risk of stenting complications should be tested by a randomized trial.