Stent restenosis in a Chinese population.

Background: Stents are now widely used in Hong Kong and China and there is a clinical impression that restenosis is less common because of the lower prevalence of coronary artery disease and associated risk factors in the Chinese. However, there are no published data on angiographic stent restenosis rates in Chinese patients.

Method: In a prospective study of 114 consecutive Chinese patients who underwent coronary stenting, quantitative coronary analyses were made at the time of stent implantation and subsequently at 6 months post-stenting (n = 97).

Recanalization of chronic total occlusion after conventional guidewire failure: guided by optical coherent reflectometry and facilitated by radiofrequency energy ablation.

The success rate of percutaneous recanalization of chronic total occlusion remains low. The Safe-Cross wire, which utilizes the principle of optical coherent reflectometry for guidance and has the ability to deliver radiofrequency energy for tissue ablation, was evaluated in 21 patients. This wire was used only after conventional guidewire failure, except in 4 patients who had failed an interventional procedure 3 months to 2 years previously.

Phase II study of docetaxel and epirubicin in Chinese patients with metastatic breast cancer.

The efficacy and safety of docetaxel-epirubicin chemotherapy in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer was investigated in Chinese women. Three-weekly cycles comprised epirubicin 75 mg/m2 i.v.