Clinical outcomes following predilation with a novel 1.25-mm diameter angioplasty catheter.

Objective: An unmet need is represented in angioplasty catheters that permit the predilation stage of treating complex coronary anatomy oftentimes not amenable to conventional device therapies.

Background: Lesion preparation with balloon angioplasty prior to stent placement remains the most common method of percutaneous coronary revascularization.

Methods: Clinical and angiographic outcomes were evaluated following a treatment strategy of coronary artery disease that included predilation with a low-profile, 1.

Risk of noncardiac surgery after coronary drug-eluting stent implantation.

We examined the records of 38 patients who underwent 41 major and 18 minor noncardiac surgeries after successful drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation (57% sirolimus-eluting stents and 43% paclitaxel-eluting stents) at the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center from April 2003 to January 2006. The mean patient age was 62 +/- 9 years, and all patients were men. A total of 41 major noncardiac surgeries (34% abdominal, 22% vascular, 17% genitourinary, and 27% other) were performed in 28 patients a median of 260 days after DES implantation.