M. Okada et M. Nakamura, EXPERIMENTAL AND CLINICAL-STUDIES ON TRANSMYOCARDIAL LASER REVASCULARIZATION (TMLR), Journal of clinical laser medicine & surgery, 16(4), 1998, pp. 197-201
The number of patients with coronary artery disease has been increasin
g and several kinds of treatments have been performed to alleviate the
ir conditions. In patients with small branches or diffuse stenotic les
ions of the coronary arteries, on whom coronary artery bypass grafting
and intracoronary intervention cannot be carried out, it has been sho
wn possible to supply arterial blood from the left ventricular cavity
to the ischemic myocardium through laser channels. Arterial blood can
be supplied hemodynamically from the left ventricular cavity to the is
chemic myocardium. In trials on dogs laser channels 0.2mm in diameter
have been found to be histologically patent even 3 years after transmy
ocardial laser revascularization (TMLR). Thus, this procedure could be
used as an alternative method of transmyocardial revascularization. W
e used TMLR on a 55-year-old male patient with severe angina pectoris
who had undergone pericardiectomy 7 years ago. He is still alive more
than 12 years after TMLR, This patient was among the first successful
clinical cases in the world treated by TMLR alone. Therefore, this pro
cedure should be recommended for the patients with end-stage coronary
artery disease.