[Clinical and angiographical results of the use of the EPHESOS stent in patients with coronary artery atherosclerosis].

The Ephesos is a new balloon-expandable, stainless steel, tubular stent with multicellular design. This open nonrandomized study assesses the immediate and long-term clinical and angiographic outcomes after Ephesos implantation in patients with native coronary artery disease. The Ephesos was implanted in 168 patients with 198 de novo lesions. Most patients (56%) had unstable angina, and 38% of lesions were type B2-C. The mean lesion length was 12.5-/+7.2 mm, and 29% of lesions were >15 mm in length. No stent deployment failure occurred, as well as acute or subacute stent thrombosis. In-hospital non-Q-wave myocardial infarction occurred in 2 patients. The 6-month event-free survival was 83.9%. Two patients with no restenosis in the target vessel died of fatal infarction due to abrupt closure of a nontarget vessel. The 6-month angiographic follow-up was obtained in 164 patients (98%) (192 lesions). The loss index was 0.27-/+0.25. Angiographic restenosis rate was 12%. Twenty patients with restenosis had repeat target lesion revascularization. The results of this study indicate a potential benefit of EPHESOS for the prevention of stent thrombosis and restenosis in these relatively high-risk patients.