Preliminary experience with the V-flex plus coronary stent: immediate and one-month clinical outcome

Procedural and 1-month outcome data following implantation of the V-Flex Plus stent in our first 54 consecutive patients (35 male; mean age, 62 years) are described. Sixty-four stents were implanted for 60 mainly complex lesions; 48% were left anterior descending; 20%, circumflex; 27%, right coronary artery; and 5%, saphenous vein graft. The Indication for stenting was elective in half of the patients and for a suboptimal result or as a bailout procedure in the other half. The stents were deployed at a mean of 12 atm (range, 6-18) and postdilatated to a mean of 15 atm (range, 8-20). Pre- and postdilatation balloon sizes were 2.96 +/- 0.57 mm and 3.16 +/- 0.34 mm, respectively. The procedural success rate was 98%. There were no deaths or Q-wave myocardial infarctions. One patient suffered a non-Q-wave myocardial infarction and another developed a femoral false aneurysm. At 1-month follow-up, there were no additional events, in particular no revascularization procedures. Eighty-nine percent of patients were free of angina. Implantation of the V-Flex Plus stent is safe and effective with an excellent early success rate comparable to that of published randomized trials and registries of carefully selected patients.