Balloon alignment T-stenting for bifurcation coronary artery disease using the sirolimus-eluting stent.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term outcomes of bifurcation coronary lesions treated with a novel technique called "balloon alignment T-stenting".

Background: The optimal technique for the treatment of bifurcation coronary disease has not yet been established.

Methods: Twenty-six patients with bifurcation coronary lesions were treated with currently available drug-eluting stent (DES) platforms.

Promising though not yet proven: emerging strategies to promote myocardial salvage.

Remarkable advances in our ability to achieve early and sustained culprit vessel patency in acute myocardial infarction have been satisfying, but our enthusiasm must be tempered by the knowledge that the overall treatment strategy often leaves an inadequate long term clinical result. Early success of percutaneous therapy as judged at angiography does not ensure recovery of normal left ventricular function, the most important determinant of survival in acute myocardial infarction. That congestive heart failure and death still complicate apparently successful percutaneous procedures underscores the need to develop novel therapies which salvage jeopardized myocardium, limit infarct size and preserve left ventricular function.