Determinants and long-term outcomes of largely uncovered struts in thin-struts drug-eluting stents assessed by optical coherence tomography.

Background: Uncovered struts are a determinant of stent failure. The impact of plaque composition and procedural factors on the occurrence, evolution, and outcomes of uncovered struts in a high-risk setting has not been investigated.

Objective: To investigate the determinants and long-term clinical impact of largely uncovered struts (LUS) in thin-struts drug-eluting stents (DES) implanted in complex lesions by intracoronary optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Effect of Respiratory Impairment on the Outcomes of Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Patients With ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction and Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19).

Background: Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) may impair outcomes of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The extent of this phenomenon and its mechanisms are unclear.

Methods and results: This study prospectively included 50 consecutive STEMI patients admitted to our center for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) at the peak of the Italian COVID-19 outbreak.

Trans-radial closure of coronary artery fistulae using Amplatzer vascular plug IV: A case series.

Background: Trans-catheter closure of coronary artery fistulae (CAF) has become a successful alternative to cardiac surgery with excellent results and acceptable low rate of complications. Different techniques and devices are available to treat the extreme anatomical variability of CAF.

Aim: We retrospectively describe our case series of five patients trans-radially treated using an Amplatzer vascular plug IV (AVP-IV) with telescoping catheter technique.

Autologous blood reinfusion during iatrogenic acute hemorrhagic cardiac tamponade: Safety and feasibility in a cohort of 30 patients.

Background: Iatrogenic hemorrhagic pericardial tamponade (IHPT) represents a life-threating condition requiring emergency pericardiocentesis. In this clinical context, reinfusion of pericardial blood can stabilize the patient and sustain hemodynamic conditions.

Aims And Methods: We reviewed all cases of IHPT occurred at our hospital over a 10 years span.

Bilateral Slender Transradial Aortic Balloon Valvuloplasty.

Percutaneous aortic balloon valvuloplasty as a bridge-to-decision strategy was performed in an 89-year-old woman with multiple comorbidities and cachexia. The patient did well; after 2 weeks, she was discharged home and referred for possible TAVR.

Temporal course of vascular healing and neoatherosclerosis after implantation of durable- or biodegradable-polymer drug-eluting stents.

Aims: Delayed healing and endothelial dysfunction may occur with drug-eluting stents (DES), promoting accelerated infiltration of lipids in the neointima and development of neoatherosclerosis (NA). Pathology data suggest durable polymer (DP) of DES to play a major role in this process. Whether biodegradable polymer (BP) may address these issues is uncertain.

Early Clinical Experience With Right and Left Distal Transradial Access in the Anatomical Snuffbox in 52 Consecutive Patients.

Background: Distal transradial access in the anatomical snuffbox has advantages over standard access in terms of patient and operator comfort levels and risk of ischemia. Radial artery preservation could be a relevant issue in patients requiring multiple radial artery procedures and coronary bypass with the use of a radial graft. One relevant drawback is the challenging puncture of a small and weak artery, with a steeper learning curve.

Transulnar recanalization of a chronic radial artery occlusion.

Trans-ulnar access is a viable alternative approach by experienced operators when the radial and femoral arteries cannot be accessed or used to preserve the contralateral radial artery as possible vascular graft for coronary bypass surgery, hemodynamic monitoring, or shunt creation for hemodialysis. We report a challenging case of ipsilateral trans-ulnar recanalization of a chronic radial artery occlusion, which allowed us to perform a complex trans-ulnar PCI.

How to perform distal anchoring technique by 6French radial approach in complex coronary procedures.

Despite remarkable advances in the interventional landscape, device delivery during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) can still present technical challenges especially when performed in complex anatomical settings and through radial approach. To overcome difficult coronary stent delivery, several strategies have been developed. A niche option in such complex cases is the anchoring balloon technique, which involves inflation of a balloon non-coaxially in a side branch or distally to the target lesion in a coaxial fashion, to facilitate stent delivery.

Radiation Therapy-Induced Cardiovascular Disease Treated by a Percutaneous Approach.

We report the case of a 51-year-old woman, treated with radiotherapy at the age of two years, for a pulmonary sarcoma. Subsequently she developed severe aortic stenosis and bilateral ostial coronary artery disease, symptomatic for dyspnea (NYHA III functional class). Due to the prohibitive surgical risk, she underwent successful stenting in the right coronary artery and left main ostia with drug eluting stents and, afterwards, transcatheter aortic valve replacement with transfemoral implantation of a 23 mm Edwards SAPIEN XT valve.

Mechanism of luminal patency of the self-expanding Sideguard sidebranch stent: evaluation by intravascular ultrasound and optical coherence tomography.

Background: The Cappella Sideguard (CS) sidebranch stent is a self-expanding, thin-strut, nitinol device with anatomic flaring at the sidebranch ostium designed to treat bifurcation lesions.

Objective: To evaluate the mechanism of long-term lumen patency of the novel, self-expanding CS sidebranch stent compared with a balloon-expandable stent in the main vessel.

Methods: We performed intravascular ultrasound postintervention and at follow-up in 24 CS stents and in 28 balloon-expandable drug-eluting stents deployed in the corresponding main vessel.

Intravascular ultrasound comparison of the self-expanding Sideguard stent in the side branch versus a balloon-expandable stent in the main vessel to assess mechanisms of acute lumen gain in bifurcation lesions.

Objectives: We compared the mechanisms of lumen gain after Cappella Sideguard (CS) side branch (SB) bifurcation stent deployment versus a balloon-expandable stent in the corresponding main vessel (MV).

Background: The novel CS SB bifurcation stent is a self-expanding, thin-strut, nitinol device with anatomic flaring at the SB ostium.

Methods: In 28 bifurcation lesions, intravascular ultrasound imaging of both the SB and the MV was performed both pre- and postintervention; vessel and lumen areas were measured every 1 mm over a 5 mm segment beginning at the carina.

Characteristics and outcomes of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction excluded from the harmonizing outcomes with revascularization and stents in acute myocardial infarction (HORIZONS-AMI) trial.

Randomized controlled trials assessing new drugs and devices tend to exclude subjects who are at greatest risk. The Harmonizing Outcomes With Revascularization and Stents in Acute Myocardial Infarction (HORIZONS-AMI) trial incorporated broader inclusion criteria in an attempt to include a more representative spectrum of patients presenting with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). To identify the differences between this modern trial and the real world, we analyzed the characteristics and outcomes of patients with STEMI who were screened but not enrolled at a high-volume recruiting center.

Impact of different stent alloys on human vascular response to everolimus-eluting stent: an optical coherence tomography study: the OCTEVEREST.

Background: New generation drug-eluting stents (DES) incorporate thinner struts and novel alloys to improve clinical performance. Nevertheless, the impact of novel stent materials and designs on human vascular response to DES remains elusive. We sought to evaluate the in-vivo coronary artery response to platinum-chromium (PtCr) versus cobalt-chromium (CoCr) stents featuring the same durable polymer and antiproliferative drug by optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Serial assessment of coronary artery response to paclitaxel-eluting stents using optical coherence tomography.

Background: The paucity of longitudinal, serial high-resolution imaging studies has limited our understanding of in vivo arterial response to drug-eluting stents. We sought to investigate the human coronary response to paclitaxel-eluting stent implantation, using serial optical coherence tomography assessments.

Methods And Results: Thirty patients with at least 2 significant coronary lesions in different vessels were treated with a paclitaxel-eluting stent.

Impact of drug release kinetics on vascular response to different zotarolimus-eluting stents implanted in patients with long coronary stenoses: the LongOCT study (Optical Coherence Tomography in Long Lesions).

Objectives: We assessed the in vivo vascular response to a new generation of zotarolimus-eluting stents (ZES) with prolonged drug release (Resolute ZES-SR, Medtronic Vascular, Santa Rosa, California) compared with ZES with faster kinetics (Endeavor ZES-FR, Medtronic Vascular) by optical coherence tomography.

Background: Local drug release kinetics has been implicated with antirestenosis efficacy of drug-eluting stents. However, the impact of different release kinetics on vascular response of diseased human coronary arteries remains to be investigated.

Safety and feasibility of selective angiography of left internal mammary artery grafts via right transradial approach.

Background And Purpose: Right transradial approach (TRA) for cardiovascular procedures is becoming common practice, but angiography and PCI of left mammary artery by-pass graft (LIMA) via the right radial artery is still technically challenging. Aim of the study was to evaluate the possibility to put a stable catheter in left mammary from right radial approach.

Methods: From June 2002 to March 2009, 246 consecutive patients (88% male; age 67.

Radial artery: how many times?

Background And Purpose: Transradial approach for diagnostic and interventional procedures is becoming common practice. It has not been well determined how many times the same radial artery can be cannulated without complications. Aim of the study was to evaluate safety, feasibility and efficacy of repeat transradial procedures.

Optical coherence tomography in ST-elevation myocardial infarction treated with novel drug-eluting stent: preprocedural, postimplant and 2-month follow-up findings.

The use of drug-eluting stents (DES) allowed the reduction in the need for repeat revascularization. At the culprit site in acute myocardial infarction patients treated with first-generation DES, the interaction between the eluted drug and the underlying necrotic core may generate different patterns of pathologic vessel response and delayed healing. A new generation DES intrepide elutes trapidil.

Strut coverage and vessel wall response to a new-generation paclitaxel-eluting stent with an ultrathin biodegradable abluminal polymer: Optical Coherence Tomography Drug-Eluting Stent Investigation (OCTDESI).

Background: Polymer-coated drug-eluting stents are effective in preventing restenosis but have been associated with delayed healing and incomplete strut coverage. It is unknown whether paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES) with minimal biodegradable abluminal coating enhances strut coverage while preventing neointimal hyperplasia. Using optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a primary imaging modality, we assessed the proportion of uncovered struts at 6-month follow-up in PES coated with durable versus ultrathin (<1 microm) biodegradable abluminal polymers.

Failure of transradial approach during coronary interventions: anatomic considerations.

The anatomy of the radial artery has yet to be systematically studied from the perspective of using it as a route for catheter access. We prospectively performed angiography of the arteries of the upper limb to delineate the anatomic features of the radial artery as a way to determine the feasibility of using it as a route for coronary intervention. We studied 2,211 consecutive patients submitted to transradial cardiac catheterization.