A randomized, controlled trial of saphenous vein graft intervention with a filter-based distal embolic protection device: TRAP trial.

The purpose of this prospective, multicenter trial was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the TRAP Vascular Filtration System (VFS) to reduce embolic complications during stenting of diseased saphenous vein grafts (SVGs). Patients with SVG lesions were randomly assigned to undergo stenting with or without the TRAP device. The trial was designed to enroll 752 randomized patients.

Reduction of subacute stent thrombosis (SAT) using heparin-coated stents in a large-scale, real world registry.

Purpose: This study was designed to compare the rates of subacute stent thrombosis (SAT) among patients receiving heparin-coated stents to patients receiving bare-metal stents in real world, contemporary coronary interventions.

Background: Controlled trials with heparin-coated coronary stents have shown a trend toward decreased rates of SAT.

Methods And Results: The data in this study were collected from a single, large cardiac center over a period of 9 months.

Point-of-care ecarin clotting time versus activated clotting time in correlation with bivalirudin concentration.

Introduction: A thrombin inhibitor management (TIM) point-of-care test based upon the ecarin clotting time (ECT) has been developed. The ECT has been suggested to more accurately reflect the anti-coagulant effect of direct thrombin inhibitors compared with the activated clotting time (ACT). We sought to examine the correlation of the TIM-ECT test with bivalirudin concentration in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and to compare the performance of this test with the current standard (i.

Effect of recombinant ApoA-I Milano on coronary atherosclerosis in patients with acute coronary syndromes: a randomized controlled trial.

Context: Although low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) increase risk for coronary disease, no data exist regarding potential benefits of administration of HDL-C or an HDL mimetic. ApoA-I Milano is a variant of apolipoprotein A-I identified in individuals in rural Italy who exhibit very low levels of HDL. Infusion of recombinant ApoA-I Milano-phospholipid complexes produces rapid regression of atherosclerosis in animal models.

Receptor for AGE (RAGE) mediates neointimal formation in response to arterial injury.

Background: Receptor for advanced-glycation end products (RAGE) and its ligands AGEs and S100/calgranulins have been implicated in a range of disorders. However, the role of RAGE/ligand interaction in neointimal hyperplasia after vascular injury remains unclear.

Methods And Results: We examined the expression of RAGE and its ligands after balloon injury of the carotid artery in both Zucker diabetic and nondiabetic rats.

Successful treatment of distal coronary guidewire-induced perforation with balloon catheter delivery of intracoronary thrombin.

Distal coronary artery perforation with a coronary guidewire is a relatively rare but potentially fatal complication during PTCA. Historically, these types of perforations have been easy to control with reversal of heparin anticoagulation combined with prolonged distal balloon inflation. In the modern era, with widespread use of potent glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors, this type of distal wire perforation has become more difficult to manage and potentially lethal.

Relation of matrix-metalloproteinase 3 found in coronary lesion samples retrieved by directional coronary atherectomy to intravascular ultrasound observations on coronary remodeling.

We investigated the relation between the presence of matrix-metalloproteinases (MMPs) and direction of remodeling in the coronary lesions of 35 patients. Positive arterial remodeling describes a compensatory expansion of the external elastic membrane (EEM) area of atherosclerotic lesions. An association between positive remodeling and unstable clinical presentation has been previously described.

Practice patterns and outcomes of percutaneous coronary interventions in the United States: 1995 to 1997.

Randomized trials have demonstrated the superiority of coronary stents in combination with a platelet-focused pharmacologic approach in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). However, nationally representative data examining the impact of these technologies on patient outcomes and costs remain scarce. This study sought to determine the real-world impact of changes in the use of stents and anticoagulant agents in PCI on outcomes and costs.

Effect of anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha polyclonal antibody on restenosis after balloon angioplasty in a rabbit atherosclerotic model.

Inflammation has been postulated to contribute to restenosis after balloon angioplasty. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha is a pleiotropic proinflammatory cytokine involved in many features of inflammation. We examined the tissue expression pattern of TNF-alpha and the inflammatory response to arterial injury, and the effects of a goat anti-rabbit-TNF-alpha polyclonal antibody on tissue TNF-alpha expression, inflammation and restenosis in a rabbit atherosclerotic model.

Role of the "dogbone" effect of balloon-expandable stents: quantitative coronary analysis of DUET and NIR stent implantation introducing a novel indexing system.

Unlabelled: Stent design and deployment characteristics of balloon-expandable stents may play an important role in determining both early and late outcomes of stenting. The purpose of this study was to compare the percent residual stenosis (RS) of two new-generation stent delivery systems, DUET and NIR, in patients with CAD. From September 1998 1999, a total of 100 consecutive patients with CAD receiving either a DUET (18 or 23 mm length; n = 50) or NIR stent (16 or 25 mm length; n = 50) using a 3.