Long-term clinical benefit of sirolimus-eluting stents compared to bare metal stents in the treatment of saphenous vein graft disease.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) in the treatment of saphenous vein graft (SVG) disease.

Background: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of SVG lesions with bare metal stents (BMS) is associated with frequent in-stent restenosis, progression of disease in nonstented SVG segments, and suboptimal clinical outcomes. While SES have been shown to reduce restenosis rates in various native lesion subsets, the long-term clinical impact of SES use in SVG lesions is less clear.

The impact of gender on vessel size in patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries.

Introduction: Female gender has been associated with worse clinical outcomes following coronary revascularization. Whether a gender-specific difference in vessel size is contributing to this finding remains controversial. We sought to better define the relationship between gender and coronary artery size.

Angiographic pattern of restenosis following implantation of overlapping sirolimus-eluting (Cypher) stents.

Sirolimus-eluting stents (Cypher) have been shown to reduce the frequency of neointimal hyperplasia and restenosis compared with bare metal stents. However, the clinical implication of overlapping stents with regard to the pattern of restenosis is unclear. All patients who underwent angiography at our institution from May 2003 to March 2005 who had previously received 2 overlapping Cypher stents in native coronary lesions and had binary restenosis were included in our study.