OBJECTIVE: We conducted this study to determine the ideal stent length according to body height, as data are limited. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 408 patients undergoing ureteroscopic lithotripsy and stent insertion (22, 24 or 26 cm) were enrolled. The appropriateness of the stent length was determined according to ...

AIMS: To evaluate the angiographic and clinical outcome of patients undergoing paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES) implantation for unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) stenosis in a multicentre, prospective registry. The overall event rate for PCI of ULMCA disease remains higher than in on-label use making additional outcome data and risk-stratification tools ...

PURPOSE: To report the preliminary results of primary stenting of the superficial femoral artery (SFA) in high-risk patients with symptomatic SFA occlusive disease. METHODS: Between February 2005 and April 2007, a collective 30 lower limbs in 28 high-risk patients with SFA occlusive disease were treated by primary stenting. Hemodynamic improvement ...

Patients with drug-eluting stents appear to be at increased risk of thrombosis beyond 30 days (late) or even 1 year (very late) after stent placement. Patients with recent placement of drug-eluting stents who are receiving dual-antiplatelet therapy pose a challenge in the perioperative period. Current guidelines recommend discontinuation of clopidogrel ...

In this article, we reviewed our experience of treatment of the delayed intrathoracic nonmalignant esophageal perforation employing modified intraluminal esophageal stent. Between February 1990 and August 2006, eight patients were included in this study. Five patients experienced sepsis. The interval time between perforation and stent placement ranged from 36 h ...

OBJECTIVES: Endoscopic biliary drainage is widely accepted as palliative treatment in patients with pancreatic cancer. The current study was designed to compare self-expanding metal stent and polyethylene stent in a homogeneous patient group with advanced pancreatic cancer. METHODS: The study included 154 patients initially treated with a metal or plastic ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of tamsulosin in improving symptoms in, and quality of life of, patients with indwelling double-J ureteral stents. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This prospective study lasted from January 2005 to February 2007. All the patients with symptomatic lower ureteral stones with <15 mm diameter were enrolled in ...

Little is known about the frequency of symptomatic and asymptomatic gastrointestinal complications of dual antiplatelet therapy. We recruited 30 patients between 18 and 80 years who were started on aspirin and clopidogrel following percutaneous coronary intervention with drug-eluting stents. We hypothesized that the 3 months of dual antiplatelet therapy would ...

PURPOSE: To compare shunt patency and clinical outcomes in two groups of patients who received a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS): one group with bare stents and one with expanded polytetrafluoroethylene stent-grafts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: TIPS were created with bare stents (n = 41) or stent-grafts (n = 40). Overall ...

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine the safety and efficacy of the Cheatham Platinum covered stent in adults with coarctation of the aorta. METHODS: Adults with native coarctations (n=14); previous coarctation surgery (n=4), stenting (n=1) or both surgery and endovascular therapy (n=3) underwent percutaneous intervention with a ...

OBJECTIVE: To describe a novel use for a tracheobronchial stent to maintain patency after vaginal septum excision in a patient with an obstructed hemivagina and uterine didelphys. DESIGN: Description of a novel technique. SETTING: University-affiliated children's hospital. PATIENT(S): One patient with an obstructed hemivagina and uterine didelphys who presented with ...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Covered metal stents have been accepted as the treatment of choice for malignant dysphagia caused by esophageal and gastric cardia cancer, but stent migration is a major shortcoming. A double-layered Niti-S stent was therefore introduced to obviate this problem. We aimed to compare double-layered and covered Niti-S ...

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of percutaneous antegrade ureteric stent removal using a rigid alligator forceps. Twenty patients were included in our study. Indications for ureteric stent insertion included stone disease (n = 7), malignancy (n = 8) and transplant anastomotic strictures (n = 5). Stent retrieval was carried ...

OBJECTIVES: This study was performed to evaluate the long-term vascular response of the first series of patients treated by a novel ultra-low profile, guidewire-based self-expanding stent system (Sparrow stent) using serial intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). BACKGROUND: The long-term vascular response and stent geometry change after self-expanding stent implantation are not known. ...

INTRODUCTION: The minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum has become the preferred technique in most centres. One of the most important technical points for the final result is stabilisation of the bar, usually obtained by one or two metal stabilisers. Recently, long-term absorbable stabilisers have become available (LactoSorb, Biomet, Jacksonville, ...

INTRODUCTION/AIM: Occlusive disease of lower limb arteries have been so far traditionally best treated with bypass surgery, but we want to find minimally invasive approach that should be at least as good as conventional surgery, and hopefully better. The aim of this study was to evaluate SMART Control stents (Cordis, ...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article is to examine whether clopidogrel and ticlopidine treatments produce similar clinical outcomes for patients receiving primary stenting for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). BACKGROUND: Prior studies have yielded conflicting results on the relative safety and efficacy of clopidogrel and ticlopidine after stent implantation, warranting an ...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the pharmacokinetics and tolerability of Biolimus A9 eluted from Nobori coronary stents. BACKGROUND:: The release kinetics and pharmacokinetics of drugs delivered via coronary stents have been shown to play an essential role in the efficacy and safety of drug eluting stents. ...

OBJECTIVE: To test a novel 'ribbon stent' (RS) design using an extraluminal bipolar electromyographic (EMG) and giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensor system to characterize ureteric responses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In all, 11 female domestic pigs were divided into three groups to evaluate ureteric physiology: group 1 (two pigs) with an unstented ...

AIMS: To assess the long-term benefit-risk ratio of drug-eluting (DES) vs. bare-metal stents (BMS) relative to stent size. METHODS AND RESULTS: All 826 consecutive BASKET (BAsel Stent Kosten-Effektivitäts Trial) patients randomized 2:1 to DES vs. BMS were followed after 3 years. Data were analysed separately for patients with small stents ...

BACKGROUND: Endovascular stent-graft treatment has emerged as an alternative for patients with type B aortic dissection (AD), either at acute or chronic phase, in selected patients. This study aimed to investigate the results of endovascular stent-graft repair for acute and chronic type B AD. METHODS: From May 2002 to July ...

PURPOSE: We assessed the impact of alfuzosin on ureteral stent discomfort. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 66 patients scheduled for unilateral retrograde ureteroscopy with stent placement provided consent for the study. Patients were randomized between placebo and the study medication, and investigators and patients were blinded to the randomization ...

Summary: Carotid blowout is a devastating complication in patients with head and neck cancer, commonly encountered as a delayed complication of radiation therapy. The clinical outcomes in patients with carotid blowout are discouraging; even transarterial embolization has been performed to control the acute massive bleeding. In recent years, covered stents ...

Resistance to the antiplatelet effects of both aspirin and clopidogrel is common and is associated with poorer clinical outcomes in patients receiving antiplatelet therapy. Available data indicate that hyporesponsiveness to clopidogrel is overcome in some patients by increasing the loading dose from 300 mg to 600 mg, with the higher ...

BACKGROUND: Direct stenting without balloon dilatation may reduce procedural costs and duration, and hypothetically, the restenosis rate. This study was designed to compare the in-hospital and long-term outcomes of direct stenting (DS) versus stenting after pre-dilatation (PS) in our routine clinical practice. METHODS: The 1 603 patients treated with stenting ...

OBJECTIVE: We sought to describe our institutional experience providing "hybrid" intraoperative stent therapy for pulmonary artery (PA) stenoses. BACKGROUND: Surgical patch angioplasty, transcatheter stent therapy and intraoperative stent delivery are valuable treatment options for PA stenoses. The experience with intraoperative hybrid therapy has increased and new techniques and equipment have ...

We retrospectively evaluated the use of double-j stent and the incidence of urological complications in 2 groups of patients who received a kidney transplant. From January 2005 to September 2007 we studied 172 patients receiving kidney transplants, 65 and 107 from living and cadaver donors, respectively. From the 172 patients, ...

OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS: Evaluation of the impact of continuously topically released dexamethasone using a drug-releasing stent on quality of regenerated mucosa after full thickness injury in the paranasal sinuses. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective, controlled, randomized, double-blinded animal study. METHODS: Nineteen New Zealand white rabbits were subjected to surgery: via an external approach, a ...

AIMS: Zotarolimus-eluting stents (ZESs) have been shown to be safe and effective in randomised trials. We sought to report the clinical outcomes after implantation of ZES in real-world clinical practice. METHODS AND RESULTS: ZES have been approved for clinical use in Singapore since April 2005. Until December 31, 2007, a ...

Background and aim: Consensus regarding stenting for hilar biliary obstruction has not yet been established. The aim of this study was to compare the patency of plastic stents (PS) and metallic stents (MS), and to determine the ideal management for hilar biliary obstruction. Patients and methods: We retrospectively reviewed 126 ...

This article evaluates the results of portal vein (PV) stent placement in patients with malignant extrinsic lesions stenosing or obstructing the PV and causing symptomatic PV hypertension (PVHT). Fourteen patients with bile duct cancer (n = 7), pancreatic adenocarcinoma (n = 4), or another cancer (n = 3) underwent percutaneous ...

We present a case of migration of the left renal vein (LRV) stent into the right ventricle in a patient with nutcracker syndrome. After a failed attempt of percutaneous endovascular removal of the stent, the stent in the heart was removed by open cardiac surgery, another stent was placed into ...

INTRODUCTION: Percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy (PMT) for treatment of massive pulmonary embolism (PE) has been shown to be technically feasible, although the complication rate of the procedure appears relatively high. Whether a conservative treatment approach defined by an early termination of the PMT procedure once hemodynamic and clinical parameters of the ...

PURPOSE: We evaluated operative outcomes during nephron sparing surgery using a handheld radio frequency ablation resection device. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with a newly diagnosed renal mass who elected treatment were prospectively enrolled in a comparative trial designed to evaluate the usefulness of the handheld HABIB 4X radio frequency ablation ...

The current study was designed to investigate our hypotheses that balloon-expandable covered stents display acceptable function over longitudinal follow-up in patients with complex vascular pathology and provide a suitable alternative for the treatment of recurrent in-stent restenosis. All stents were Atrium iCast, which is a balloon-mounted, polytetrafluoroethylene-covered stent with a ...

PURPOSE: To retrospectively evaluate the clinical effectiveness of a self-expanding uncovered Wallstent in patients with malignant gastroduodenal obstruction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Under combined endoscopic and fluoroscopic guidance, 29 patients with a malignant gastroduodenal stenosis were treated with a self-expanding uncovered metallic Wallstent. A dysphagia score was assessed before and after ...

OBJECTIVES: Stent implantation produces a systemic increase of inflammatory markers that correlates with Chlamydophila pneumoniae infection in atherosclerotic plaque. We performed a clinical intervention study to investigate the effect of antibiotic treatment on 6-month follow-up angiographic minimal luminal diameter after stenting. METHODS: Ninety patients were randomly assigned to oral azithromycin ...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the long-term results of catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) and the feasibility of stent placement for lower extremity deep vein thrombosis (DVT). DESIGN & METHODS: Retrospective study of 34 patients (10 men and 24 women, mean age 55, S.D. 13 years) with lower extremity DVT underwent CDT at Seoul ...

PURPOSE: To evaluate the technical feasibility and clinical effectiveness of fluoroscopically guided placement of self-expandable metallic stents and stent-grafts for acute malignant colorectal obstruction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Radiologic images and clinical reports of 42 patients (22 men, 20 women; age range, 28-93 years; median age, 65.5 years) who underwent fluoroscopically ...

BACKGROUND: Anastomotic biliary stricture represents one of the possible factors leading to liver dysfunction after transplantation. PURPOSE: Our aims were to evaluate the role of endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography and a short-term stenting (stent-trial) in assessment of the clinical relevance of the biliary stricture. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty transplanted patients for ...

BACKGROUND: The Taxus Olympia registry is a prospective, postapproval registry collecting clinical outcomes data on patients receiving the Taxus Liberté paclitaxel-eluting stent during routine interventional cardiology practice. METHODS: Between February and July 2005, 529 patients receiving the Taxus Liberté stent at 16 centers in the Middle East, South/Central America, and ...

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to compare the use of classic bare- metal stents with dedicated bifurcation bare-metal stents in patients who were not eligible for drug-eluting stents (DES) implantation. METHODS: Sixty patients with bifurcation stenosis were randomly assigned to received either a dedicated bifurcation or a bare-metal ...

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the efficacy and safety of stent redilation in patients with aortic coarctation (COA). METHODS AND RESULTS: In our retrospective study of 28 stent redilation procedures on 22 patients, the interval between implantation and redilation ranged from 2.5 month to 11 years (median 18 months). Ten patients had ...

BACKGROUND: There are few comparative data as to whether plastic or self-expanding metallic stents are preferable for palliating malignant hilar biliary obstruction. METHODS: Thirty-day outcomes of consecutive endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatographies performed for malignant hilar obstruction at 6 private and 5 university centers were assessed prospectively. RESULTS: Patients receiving plastic (N=28) ...

The challenge of subspecialty fellowship directors is to recruit surgeons who are motivated to continue the tradition of teaching by entering academic medicine. The authors looked for predictive factors to help with more accurate selection of applicants. Application and follow-up data from plastic surgery subspecialty fellows in craniofacial surgery, hand ...

Early recurrent stenosis of the cephalic arch in autogenous arteriovenous access for hemodialysis is a common problem that requires stenting to prevent thrombosis. Because the results of stenting are unsatisfactory, we compared the efficacy of stent grafts with bare stents in these patients. All patients who presented with recurrent cephalic ...

PURPOSE: To evaluate technical success and clinical efficacy of crisscross-configured dual biliary stent implantation in patients with a biliary hilar tumor extending beyond the segmental ducts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January 2002 and December 2006, two metallic stents were placed crossing each other in a hepatic hilum in 42 patients. ...

The Xience V Everolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent System (Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, California) drug-eluting stent (DES) is the most recent stent to undergo an extensive evaluation based on the initial requirements for DES approval. Safety and efficacy data were presented in a public meeting of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ...

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Endoscopic biliary drainage is an established mode of treatment for acute cholangitis. We compared the safety and efficacy of 7 Fr and 10 Fr stent placement for biliary drainage in patients with acute cholangitis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We recruited 40 patients with severe cholangitis who required ...

We conducted a prospective, randomized study to evaluate whether postoperative ureteral stenting is necessary after ureteroscopic holmium laser lithotripsy. A total of 115 consecutive patients with distal or middle ureteral calculi amenable to ureteroscopic holmium laser lithotripsy were prospectively randomized into stented group (n = 58) and nonstented group (n ...