Prewire channel stent: a novel stent for bifurcation lesions in a pig model.

Aims: Avoiding side branch occlusion is challenging when treating bifurcation lesions. A newly designed stent system called the prewire channel stent (PWCS) with a side channel positioned between the metallic mesh material and the balloon is introduced. We aimed to compare the time taken to position the PWCS against that for a conventional stent.

Methods And Results: The PWCS and a conventional stent were used in a pig model. The time taken from the starting point with the stent outside the body to reaching the bifurcation of the vessel ready for further procedures such as balloon dilatation through the stent mesh opening and double kissing balloon technique, etc., was compared in the conventional stent and PWCS groups. The time taken in the PWCS stent group included the time from sending the stent from outside the body to the desired position of the bifurcation of the vessels of the heart, releasing the stent and pulling back the balloon (SB time). The time taken in the conventional stent included the time from sending the stent from outside the body to the desired position of the bifurcation of the vessels of the heart, releasing the stent, pulling back the balloon (SB time), and wire exchange (WE time). The SB times for the PWCS and the conventional stent groups were not different (28.5±3.8 vs. 25.25±0.75 seconds, n=4). The PWCS group did not have "wire exchange," and had no WE time, which was 28.5±5.7 seconds in the conventional stent group. The total time spent in the PWCS group was 28.5±3.8 seconds, which was shorter than the 53.75±6.2 seconds (n=4, p<0.05) in the conventional stent group.

Conclusions: The PWCS makes "wire exchange" in the side branch (SB) unnecessary and it can be as easily manipulated as a conventional stent.