Real-time ultrasound guidance facilitates femoral arterial access and reduces vascular complications: FAUST (Femoral Arterial Access With Ultrasound Trial).

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the procedural and clinical outcomes of femoral arterial access with ultrasound (US) guidance with standard fluoroscopic guidance.

Background: Real-time US guidance reduces time to access, number of attempts, and complications in central venous access but has not been adequately assessed in femoral artery cannulation.

Methods: Patients (n = 1,004) undergoing retrograde femoral arterial access were randomized 1:1 to either fluoroscopic or US guidance.

Novel use of a peripheral, self-expanding nitinol stent in adjunct to excimer laser coronary atherectomy in the treatment of degenerated vein graft disease.

Decades of successful surgical revascularization of coronary artery disease have led to a growing population with saphenous vein graft disease. However, the treatment of degenerated saphenous vein graft still remains controversial. We report a novel but successful use of a peripheral, self-expanding nitinol stent in adjunct to excimer laser coronary atherectomy (ELCA) in the treatment of symptomatic, degenerated saphenous vein graft disease.

The first clinical experience with a peripheral, self-expanding nitinol stent in the treatment of saphenous vein graft disease: angiographic evidence of late expansion.

The ideal intervention for degenerated saphenous vein grafts (SVG) is still controversial. We report the first use of a peripheral, self-expanding nitinol stent in the treatment of a patient with symptomatic SVG disease. The procedure was well tolerated, without any short- or long-term complications.

Gadolinium-based percutaneous coronary intervention in a patient with renal insufficiency.

We report the first case of using gadolinium as a contrast agent to perform percutaneous coronary intervention in a patient with an acute coronary syndrome and a history of renal insufficiency. The procedure was well tolerated without any complications or nephrotoxicity. The images obtained with gadolinium were of good quality.