Initial clinical experience of intracoronary coil (Gianturco-Roubin) stents for management of acute dissection after balloon angioplasty.

Dissections after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) are risk factors for acute or subacute vessel closures. Intracoronary stenting was developed to avoid these complications by pressing the intimal and medial flaps against the vessel wall, thus reducing the risk of acute closure from thrombus formation. Thirty three coil (Gianturco-Roubin) stents were implanted into the coronary arteries of 32 patients with dissections after PTCA during the period of March 1993 to December 1993. The indications for stent implantation were acute closure in 6 (18.8%), threatened closure in 6 (18.8%) and suboptimal result in 20 (62.4%) patients. Stent insertion were successful in 30 (94%) patients. The diameter stenosis in an immediate angiographic findings after stenting was decreased from 87% to 18% by caliper estimation. Emergency coronary artery bypass graft surgery was required in 1 (3%) patient. A non-Q wave myocardial infarction occurred in 1 (3%) patient. Complications included hematoma of the arterial access site requiring blood transfusion in 4 (12.5%) patients and hemopericardium in 1 (3%) patient. Our initial clinical experience of flexible coil coronary stent imply that stenting is efficacious treatment for acute dissections that are causing acute or threatened closure following angioplasty. The long term follow-up result in all groups of patient who received coronary stents is needed for better evaluation of new devices and prognosis.