Divided Palmaz-Schatz stent for discrete coronary stenosis

This article shows the findings observed in a group of 7 patients with short coronary lesions who were treated by a divided (7 mm length) coronary Palmaz-Schatz stent, in trying to match the length of the stent to that of the treated segment. All of the patients were male and had a mean age of 59 +/- 5 years; 6 had unstable and 1 stable angina. The angiographic length of the lesion was 4.3 +/- 1 mm. The divided stent was successfully deployed in all cases and remained in place without complications. The clinical condition stabilized and all 7 patients were symptom-free 6 months post-hospital discharge. At angiographic follow-up studies, performed before discharge and at 2 and 6 months later, there were no significant changes in the resultant minimal lumen diameter. The stented segment and surrounding areas remained smooth and without intraluminal defects. These observations suggest that a 7 mm length stent is effective in avoiding elastic recoil of discrete coronary lesions. This reduced length could be helpful in: 1) decreasing exposed metallic surface, 2) increasing deliverability and 3) preventing the origin of nearby side-branches to be covered by a standard 15 mm length stent.