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Coronary tortuosity is a common coronary angiography finding. The aetiology and the clinical significant are not well defined, generally considered a normal variant. We showed a case of marked tortuosity of all coronary arteries associated with myocardial ischemia.

The primary objective of the present study was to assess the feasibility and the safety of the Seaquence TM stent (CathNet-Science) deployment for the treatment of coronary artery disease and the event-free survival of patients treated with this coronary stent. The study was conducted as a multicenter, prospective, observational registry. Patients with stable or unstable angina pectoris who were candidates for percutaneous coronary intervention with elective stenting of one single de novo lesion in a native coronary artery ≥3 mm in diameter were included in the study. Clinical follow-up was performed at 1 month and 9 months. Major adverse coronary events (MACE), that is, cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization (re-PTCA or CABG), were recorded over a period of 9 months. Using this stent, a 99% in-hospital success rate was achieved. A total of 17 patients presented MACE (8.7%) during the whole follow-up period and target lesion revascularization was needed for 14 (7.1%) patients. Using multivariate analysis only some clinical parameters (patients treated for unstable angina, with a history of CABG or of female gender) were found as independent predictors of MACE after coronary stenting. Procedural related factors, angiographic characteristics, or reference diameter were not found to influence clinical outcome. Because the study was performed in patients with a high proportion of complex lesions (relative highrisk nonselected population with nearly one third calcified lesions, many long and type B2 and C lesions) we can conclude that the coronary Seaquence TM stent can be considered as a stent of reference in routine practice. (J Interven Cardiol 2004;17:9‐15)

The aim of this trial was to compare cutting balloon angioplasty (CBA) with conventional balloon angioplasty (i.e., percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty [PTCA]) for the treatment of patients with coronary in-stent restenosis (ISR).Retrospective studies suggest CBA might be superior to conventional PTCA in the treatment of ISR.The Restenosis Cutting Balloon Evaluation Trial (RESCUT) is a multicenter, randomized, prospective European trial including 428 patients with all types of ISR (e.g., focal, multifocal, diffuse, proliferative).In both groups, the majority of ISR lesions were shorter than 20 mm. The length of restenotic stents was similar (CBA: 18.6 +/- 9.7 mm; PTCA: 18.3 +/- 8.7 mm). The number of balloons used to treat ISR was lower in the CBA group: only one balloon was used in 82.3% of CBA cases, compared with 75% of PTCA procedures (p = 0.03). Balloon slippage was less frequent in the CBA group (CBA 6.5%, PTCA 25%; p0.01). There was a trend toward a lower need for additional stenting in the CBA group (CBA 3.9%, PTCA 8.0%; p = 0.07). At seven-month angiographic follow-up, the binary restenosis rate was not different between the groups (CBA 29.8%, PTCA 31.4%; p = 0.82), with a similar pattern of recurrent restenosis. Clinical events at seven months were also similar.Cutting balloon angioplasty did not reduce recurrent ISR and major adverse cardiac events, as compared with conventional PTCA. However, CBA was associated with some procedural advantages, such as use of fewer balloons, less requirement for additional stenting, and a lower incidence of balloon slippage.