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Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) for chronic totally occluded coronary arteries is associated with a significant residual stenosis and a high incidence of restenosis. Between March 1995 to February 1997, recanalization of chronic total occlusion (CTO) was attempted in 95 patients, of whom 79 (83.1%) were dilated successfully using balloon angioplasty, rotablation or both. Forty two patients underwent elective stent implantation to evaluate the influence of stenting on immediate results and clinical as well as angiographic outcome on long-term follow-up. There were 39 males and 3 females, with a mean age of 51 +/- 8 years. The majority (69.1%) had multivessel disease. The target vessel was LAD in 25 (58.1%), RCA in 12 (27.9%), LCx-OM in 5 (11.6%) and ramus in 1 (2.3%). After recanalization and adequate predilatation, various types of stents were deployed successfully at the target site in all patients, using high pressure intrastent balloon dilatation. The luminal diameter stenosis reduced to 47 +/- 15 percent after balloon angioplasty and < 10 percent in all, after stent implantation. There were no in-hospital major complications, including subacute stent thrombosis, myocardial infarction, need for emergency bypass graft surgery or death. The follow-up data is available in 36 patients, ranging from 1-22 months (mean: 7.4 +/- 4.7; median: 6). Of these, 32 (88.8%) were free of angina at their last visit, 3 (8.3%) required target lesion revascularization and 2 patients died, one at 3 weeks and the other at 6 months after the procedure. The event-free survival, estimated by the Kaplan-Meier survival curve was 97.3, 82.8 and 77.25 percent at one, 6, and 12 months, respectively after stenting. Out of 29 eligible patients, 20 underwent repeat coronary angiography after 6 months, which revealed restenosis in 5 (25%). In conclusion, our study shows that elective coronary stenting following successful recanalization of chronic total occlusion produces an excellent immediate result and reduces the recurrence of angina, target lesion revascularization and angiographic restenosis on long-term follow-up.

Between April and December 1996, 50 less-shortening Wallstents were deployed in the native coronary arteries of 44 patients, with lesions more than 20 mm long and minimum vessel diameter of at least 3.0 mm. There were 39 males and 5 females with an age range of 35-77 years. The majority (70.4%) had multivessel disease (MVD). The target vessel was LAD for 17 (34%), RCA 23 (46%) and LCx-OM for 10 (20%) stents. All lesions were type C, according to the ACC/AHA Task Force Classification. The length of the lesions ranged from 21-60 mm (mean: 31 +/- 8). The stent selection was based upon oversizing by 1.5-2.0 mm compared to the minimum vessel diameter, and covering approximately 4-5 mm of the apparently normal vessel on either side of the target lesion. The stent was deployed successfully without any major complications, including myocardial infarction, emergency coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and death in 43 out of 44 (97.7%) patients. One patient in whom there was failure to reach the target site with stent, developed non-Q wave inferior myocardial infarction. Post-discharge, two patients reported to have died within one month after the procedure. The event-free survival, defined as the absence of angina, myocardial infarction, need for revascularisation or death was 93.2 percent at 30 days and 84 percent at 6 months following stent implantation. From our data, it is concluded that (i) the delivery of the new, less-shortening, self-expanding Wallstent at the target site was possible in almost all the cases; (ii) clinical success with < 30 percent residual diameter stenosis could be achieved in approximately 98 percent of cases, and (iii) there was an impressive event-free survival of 84 percent at 6 months of follow-up. The occurrence of 2 deaths during the first 30 days, however, necessitates close supervision for possible subacute stent thrombosis. The results of angiography after six months would help to define the true incidence of restenosis.

The therapeutic outcome of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) for subclavian steno-occlusive disease performed over the last 10 years was assessed in 60 consecutive patients of aortoarteritis (n = 35) and atherosclerosis (n = 25). Sixty lesions were stenotic and 6 short segment total occlusions. Twenty-five lesions were prevertebral and 41 postvertebral. PTA was successful in 56 (primary success rate 93.3%) stenotic lesions and 3 (50%) total occlusions. In comparison to atherosclerosis, patients with aortoarteritis were younger (27.7 +/- 9.1 versus 54.7 +/- 10.7 years; p < 0.001), more often female (75% versus 20%; p < 0.001), gangrene was uncommon (0% versus 16%; p < 0.05) and diffuse involvement was more often seen (42.9% versus 4.0%; p < 0.001). The luminal diameter stenosis was similar before PTA (88.6 +/- 9.7% versus 89.0 +/- 9.1%; p = NS); however, aortoarteritis group had more residual stenosis (15.7 +/- 12.5% versus 8.3 +/- 9.6%; p < 0.05) after PTA. Higher balloon inflation pressure was required to dilate the lesions of aortoarteritis (9.9 +/- 4.6 versus 5.5 +/- 1.0 atm; p < 0.001). Three (5%) patients had complications which could be effectively managed nonsurgically. There were no neurological sequelae, even in PTA of prevertebral lesions. On clinical follow-up over a period of 4-120 (43.7 +/- 29.6) months in 45 of the 60 (75%) patients, higher restenosis rate (20.8% versus 4.8%; p = NS) was observed in aortoarteritis group, particularly in those patients with diffuse arterial narrowing. These lesions could be effectively redilated. Successful PTA resulted in marked improvement in symptoms on long-term follow-up. In conclusion, subclavian PTA is safe and can be as effectively performed in aortoarteritis as in atherosclerosis with good long-term results.

Strategies for dilatation of bifurcation stenoses have continued to evolve over the past several years. However, there is limited experience on the efficacy of various nonballoon interventional devices and their results in comparison with balloon angioplasty. We, therefore, analysed our data in 72 patients of coronary artery disease with true bifurcation stenoses with balloon angioplasty or new device interventions (NDI). All patients underwent dilatation of both the primary vessel and side branch ostial stenosis. Balloon angioplasty using double guidewire with sequential or simultaneous (kissing balloon) balloon inflation in the two vessels was performed in 42 patients. Thirty patients underwent NDI, using directional coronary atherectomy (DCA) in 12, rotablation in 6 and elective coronary stents in 12 patients. There were no significant differences in the baseline clinical and angiographic variables between patients in the two groups. While the preprocedural luminal diameter stenosis was similar, the residual stenosis was significantly less, both in the primary vessel and side branch, after NDI compared to balloon angioplasty. The procedure was successful in 96.6 percent patients treated with NDI and 83.3 percent with balloon angioplasty (p < 0.01) with relief of obstruction in both branches without any major complications. Freedom from subsequent coronary events in the form of angina, myocardial infarction, PTCA, bypass graft surgery of death was significantly more, both at 6 months (92% versus 65.6%, p < 0.001) and 12 months (81.8% versus 53.1%, p < 0.001) in the group of patients treated with NDI compared to balloon angioplasty. It is, therefore, concluded that NDI including DCA, rotablation and elective stenting are associated with higher rate of success, lesser complications and better event-free survival in comparison to balloon angioplasty for treatment of true bifurcation stenoses.

Electrophysiologic effects and the efficacy of single-dose intravenous (i.v.) amiodarone were compared with those of long-term oral therapy in 9 patients of AV nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) utilising slow pathway (SP) for anterograde and fast pathway (FP) for retrograde conduction. Electrophysiologic data were obtained by programmed electrical stimulation (PES) before, 15 to 30 minutes after i.v. amiodarone (5 mg/kg body-weight over 10 minutes) and a mean of 64.6 +/- 23.7 days after oral therapy, on a maintenance dose of 200 to 400 mg daily. There was no significant influence on the sinus cycle length and infranodal conduction (HV) by i.v. or oral amiodarone as compared to pre-drug values. AV nodal conduction, evaluated by AH interval, increased significantly and comparably with both (8% after i.v., 10% after oral; p = NS). Anterograde conduction through SP, as evidenced by pacing cycle length producing AH block, was prolonged by both (31% after i.v., 52% after oral; p = NS). Oral amiodarone, however, was more effective than i.v. in lengthening the effective refractory period (ERP) of anterograde FP (45% vs 17%, p < 0.05). Although both depressed retrograde conduction significantly, long-term oral amiodarone was more effective in prolonging the paced cycle length (PCL) producing ventriculoatrial (VA) block (79% vs 50%; p < 0.05) and ERP of VA conduction system (72% vs 42%; p < 0.01). AVNRT was successfully terminated in 7 patients after i.v. amiodarone. However, tachycardia was reinducible in 3 patients after i.v. and in none after long-term oral therapy. None had clinical recurrence of tachycardia on maintenance oral therapy. The mean concentration of the drug was 3.1 +/- 1.81 micrograms/ml after i.v. and 1.3 +/- 0.47 micrograms/ml after oral therapy (p < 0.05). These results. suggest that i.v. amiodarone terminated AVNRT by depressing both anterograde and retrograde limbs of the reentrant circuit and eventually blocking one of these. Oral therapy prevented recurrence and reinducibility by its predominant effect in prolonging refractoriness of the atrium and ventricle, and depressing conduction through the retrograde FP. It is concluded that i.v. amiodarone is an effective drug in acute termination of tachycardia mediated by AV nodal reentry and that long-term oral therapy is excellent in preventing recurrence and reinducibility of tachycardia. There are significant differences in the electrophysiologic properties and mechanism of action between the two forms, not influenced by the blood levels of amiodarone.

From January to December 1995, 73 out of 174 patients with coronary artery disease underwent elective stenting for type B and C lesions. The age ranged from 35 to 73 years (mean +/- SD : 52.1 +/- 12.6) and the majority (91.7%) were males. Of the 74 vessels treated, the target vessel was LAD in 49 (66.4%), LCx in 13 (17.6%), RCA in 8 (10.8%) and SVG in 4 (5.2%). Based upon the ACC/AHA task force classification, 58 (79.5%) patients had type B1, 9 (12.3%) B2 and 6 (8.2%) had type C lesions. A total of 89 stents were deployed to treat 76 lesions with a range of 1 to 3 stents per lesion. A single stent was required for 67 lesions, 2 stents for 8 and 3 stents for 2 lesions. The stents used were Wiktor (29), Palmaz-Schatz (26), Gianturco-Roubin (24), Microstent (6) and Freedom (4), depending upon the anatomical and morphological characteristics with the lesion. Using high pressure strategy, the stents were deployed successfully in all (100%) with a reduction in luminal diameter stenosis from 92 +/- 5.4 to -5 +/- 6 percent. There was no subacute stent thrombosis despite nonusability of oral anticoagulation in 95.9 percent patients. None had any major complication in the form of acute myocardial infarction, need for emergency bypass graft surgery or death. Minor complications were encountered in 9 (12.3%) patients. At a mean follow-up of 26 +/- 14 weeks, 74 percent of the patients were asymptomatic. Out of 31 patients who had completed 6 months after the procedure, repeat angiography was performed in 29 (93.5%) at a mean duration of 29 +/- 6 weeks. The angiographic restenosis was found in 6 (20.7%) patients. In conclusion, type B and C lesions can be treated successfully using elective stenting with excellent immediate results and clinical outcome. Angiographic restenosis, which develops in about one-fifth of patients, appears to be much lower than reported after balloon angioplasty for these complex lesions.

Percutaneous rotational atherectomy (Rotablator), a high speed (> 140,000 RPM) rotational burr was used to relieve 90-99 percent obstruction in 3 superficial femoral and 2 axillary arteries. These patients had severe claudication in respective extremities. In 4 patients, the lesion was considered to be unsuitable for balloon angioplasty and one patient underwent rotational atherectomy after failure to cross the lesion with balloon catheter. The burr size used ranged from 1.5 to 2.5 mm. After rotablation, the stenosis was reduced from 94.6 +/- 4.5 percent to 42 +/- 8.4 percent. The residual narrowing was further reduced by adjunctive balloon angioplasty to 14 +/- 5.5 percent (p < 0.001). Except for hemoglobinuria in one patient, there were no complications. All patients had good distal pulsations and were relieved of their claudication. On follow-up of 5-18 months, there has been no restenosis. Thus, our preliminary experience suggests that rotational atherectomy is safe and produces gratifying results in patients with peripheral vascular disease having lesions unsuitable for primary balloon angioplasty.

Out of 127 directional coronary atherectomy (DCA) procedures done in our laboratory, there were 81 patients who had completed a minimum of six months of follow-up. To study the factors predisposing restenosis after successful DCA, we analysed the clinical and angiographic profile of the patients and the histopathological findings of the excised tissue in 44 patients whose complete follow-up data was available with us. The indication of DCA was an extremely eccentric significant stenosis located in the proximal or midsegment of a large vessel (> or = 3 mm size) in 97 percent of the cases. Angiographic restenosis, defined as more than 50 percent luminal diameter stenosis was absent in 24 (54.5%, Group A) and present in 20 (45.5%, Group B) patients. On univariate analysis, the factors which predisposed to restenosis were: (i) left anterior descending location, (ii) longer lesion length (9.6 +/- 3.1 mm vs 5.2 +/- 1.6, p < 0.01) and (iii) greater post-procedure residual luminal diameter stenosis (13.1 +/- 10.8% vs 4.3 +/- 6%, p < 0.01). No significant difference was found between the two groups for other variables like unstable angina, the location and the morphological characteristics of the lesion and the ratio of the vessel diameter to the size of the Atherocath. Histopathological examination of the retrieved tissue revealed the presence of media with or without external elastic lamina in 8 (33%) patients in Group A--without restenosis compared to only 1 (5%) patients in Group B--with restenosis (p < 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Flecainide is a class IC antiarrhythmic agent with a controversial role in the treatment of ventricular arrhythmias following myocardial infarction after the publication of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial (CAST). To assess its utility in paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT), we evaluated the electrophysiologic effects and therapeutic efficacy of intravenous flecainide, administered in a dose of 2 mg per kg body weight in 26 patients of PSVT, studied by programmed electrical stimulation. The patients' age ranged from 18-49 years (mean: 27 +/- 8) and none had organic heart disease. The mechanism of PSVT was atrioventricular nodal reentry (AVNRT) with anterograde conduction through slow pathway and retrograde through fast pathway in 14, and atrioventricular reentry (AVRT) utilizing an accessory pathway in 12 patients. Flecainide was successful in terminating the tachycardia in all (100%) patients of AVNRT and 11 (92%) patients with AVRT. In both the types, the tachycardia was terminated by selective block in conduction through the retrograde limb of the reentry circuit. The drug also produced a complete anterograde block with abolition of preexcitation in 6 out of 8 patients with WPW syndrome. After the drug, the tachycardia was reinducible in one patient of AVNRT and 4 with AVRT. The cycle length of inducible tachycardia increased from 295 +/- 25 ms to 389 +/- 24.5 ms after flecainide (p < 0.001). There were no adverse haemodynamic effects of the drug. Our results, thus, showed that intravenous flecainide is a highly effective and safe antiarrhythmic drug for termination of PSVT mediated by atrioventricular nodal and atrioventricular reentry mechanisms without producing any adverse effects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Although bifurcation lesions in the coronary arteries can be dilated with balloon angioplasty, directional atherectomy is emerging as the treatment of choice in patients with large arteries. In this study, we report the immediate results and acute complications of treating bifurcation lesions in the coronary arteries with directional atherectomy in 9 patients, ranging in age from 33 to 60 (mean 56.7 +/- 10.8) years. All patients had true bifurcation stenoses with luminal diameter narrowing of more than 70 percent in both the primary vessel and the side branch. The lesions involved the left anterior descending (LAD)-diagonal system in 5, left circumflex (LCx)-obtuse marginal (OM) in 2, distal right coronary artery (RCA) in 1 and bifurcation of a large first diagonal branch in one patient. Double-wire atherectomy technique was used in 4 patients, although 7 had an additional wire in the side branch during post-atherectomy balloon angioplasty. The procedure was successful in all patients (100%), with luminal diameter stenosis decreasing from 93 +/- 7.5 percent to 6 +/- 8.6 percent in the primary vessel and from 83 +/- 9.2 percent to 13 +/- 9 percent in the side branch. There were no major complications. Minor complications included non-flow limiting dissection in 4 patients, distal migration of thrombus in one, occlusion of 2 small distal branches of the diagonal in one and entwinement of the guidewires in one. In conclusion, directional atherectomy can be performed safely and successfully for dilatation of complex bifurcation lesions in the coronary arteries without any major complications using the double-wire or sequential atherectomy technique.

Clinical and electrophysiological features of 20 patients presenting with ventricular tachycardia (VT) of left bundle branch block (LBBB) morphology without evidence of coronary artery disease were studied. The mean age of the patients was 35.2 +/- 12 (range 15-57 years). The rate of VT varied between 140-240/min (182 +/- 80). Six (30%) patients experienced giddiness or syncope during palpitations. Structural heart disease was found in 10 (50%) of these patients, which included arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia in five, submitral left ventricular (LV) aneurysm in one, anterolateral LV dyskinesis in one, dilated cardiomyopathy in one, endomyocardial fibrosis in one and nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in one case. Ten patients were free of structural heart disease. Electrophysiological study was done in all patients. VT with same morphology as spontaneous VT was inducible in only 14 patients. Seventeen patients were treated medically with total or partial amelioration of symptoms. In three patients, two with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia and one with structurally normal heart, who were unresponsive to drug therapy, the VT focus could be mapped in right ventricular outflow tract and successful electrical ablation was done. Thus in patients who present with VT with LBBB morphology, the heart is often structurally normal but organic disease is not uncommon, and should be carefully searched.

Balloon angioplasty of native coarctation of the aorta was performed in 35 consecutive adolescents and young adults, aged 14 to 37 years (mean 22.6 +/- 7.1). Twenty-eight (80%) patients had isolated discrete coarctation, six (17.1%) had tubular hypoplasia of the aortic isthmus, and one (2.9%) had hypoplasia of the post-coarctation aorta. The peak systolic pressure gradient decreased from 78.5 +/- 23.9 to 15.7 +/- 11.6 mm Hg (p less than 0.001), and the mean coarctation diameter increased from 4.7 +/- 2.4 to 13.1 +/- 2.7 mm (p less than 0.001) immediately after angioplasty. Patients with discrete-type coarctation had significantly less residual gradient than patients with long-segment tubular coarctation (12.3 +/- 10.7 vs 27.2 +/- 6.6 mm Hg, p less than 0.01). On recatheterization and angiography in 26 patients at 12.6 +/- 1.5 months after dilatation, there was no significant change in gradient (15.5 +/- 13.3 mm Hg) and diameter (13.1 +/- 1.8 mm) from the immediate post-angioplasty results. However, two patients had an increase in gradient and three had small aortic aneurysms with no change in appearance on restudy after 2 years. After 3 to 67 months' (mean 32.7 +/- 19.2) follow-up, all patients showed continued clinical improvement. Hypertension was relieved in 37.5% (12/32) and improved in 59.4% (19/32). Our experience suggests that balloon angioplasty of native aortic coarctation in adolescents and young adults is safe and highly effective with sustained improvement on intermediate-term follow-up.

The results of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) of 57 distal lesions were compared with 55 proximal lesions in 42 patients, aged 31 to 66 years (mean +/- SD: 51 +/- 9 yrs). Twenty nine (69%) had multivessel and 13 (31%) single vessel disease. The lesions classified as distal were located in left anterior descending (LAD) artery beyond the origin of second diagonal (D2), left circumflex (LCx) after the main obtuse marginal (OM) and right coronary artery (RCA) after the origin of acute marginal branch. Also included in this category were lesions in the second diagonal and obtuse marginal branches, two centimeters from their origin and stenosis in the posterior descending and posterolateral left ventricular branches of RCA. Out of 57 distal lesions 18 were 'complex' because of tandem location (5 patients), ulceration (6 lesions) and intraluminal thrombi (2 lesions). There was no significant difference in the mean luminal diameter stenosis between distal and proximal lesions, before and after PTCA. The primary success rate of angioplasty was 89.5% for the distal and 94.5% for the proximal lesions (P = NS). Inability to position the balloon across the lesion accounted for more failures in distal (3) compared to proximal (1) location. There were no major complications. Our results show that PTCA of distal lesions can be performed with a high rate of success, which is comparable to those with classical proximal lesions in the same patients.

The clinical and coronary angiographic profile of 50 patients (Group I) with total occlusion of one or more major coronary arteries in the absence of electrocardiographic findings of myocardial infarction and normal segmental and global left ventricular (LV) functions were analysed to identify any variables responsible for this observation. Twenty five age and sex matched patients (Group II), who had 100% occlusion of at least one major coronary artery with significant wall motion abnormalities on LV angiograms, served as controls. The mean duration of angina before angiography or the occurrence of acute coronary event was significantly longer in Group I (2.8 +/- 2.2 yrs) compared to Group II (1.2 +/- 1.2 yrs; p less than .05) patients. RCA was found totally occluded more often in Group I as compared to Group II (60% vs 32%; p less than .05) patients, whereas complete occlusion of LAD occurred more frequently in Group II than in Group I (70% vs 32%; p less than .05). Significant stenoses in other arteries was found in 88% of Group I, compared to 48% of Group II patients (p less than .001). Although there was no significant difference in the frequency of collaterals feeding the totally occluded arteries in the two groups, 80% of patients in Group I had grade 3 collaterals compared to only 30% in Group II patients (p less than .001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Out of 55 patients subjected to coronary angioplasty over the past 12 months, there were 33 (60%) who had unstable angina. Amongst these, 22 patients had coronary lesions classified as 'complex' on coronary angiography. These included tandem lesions, branch stenoses, distal lesions, total occlusions, vein graft stenoses, lesions with ulceration and intraluminal clot and associated with valvular lesions. We describe our experience of coronary angioplasty in these 22 patients of unstable angina having 'complex lesions'. All were males with a mean age of 48.7 +/- 13 years. Fourteen patients had single vessel and 8 multivessel disease. A total of 35 lesions were subjected to dilatation. The angiographic primary success was achieved in 85.7% of the lesions attempted. Except total occlusions and very distal lesions, all other types of 'complex lesions' could be dilated with a success rate of greater than 75%. There were 4 (11.4%) failures because of inability to cross the lesion with the guidewire or balloon catheter. One patient developed non-Q wave inferior wall infarction. There were no deaths. We conclude that coronary angioplasty of various types of 'complex lesions' can be performed with a good primary success and negligible complications in our setting.