Percutaneous excimer laser coronary angioplasty: animal models and the first human experience in Taiwan

Clinical studies with excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA) have been published in USA and Germany for lesions too difficult for use of routine balloon angioplasty. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the safety and short-term effects of excimer laser radiation applied to canine coronary angioplasty, and to report the first experience with percutaneous coronary excimer laser angioplasty and adjunctive percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) in a human subject on Taiwan.

Twelve canine subjects were studied. An excimer laser (Technolas Inc. Max-10), 20 Hz, 35 mJ/mm2, and 60 ns pulse was used.

There were no perforations, with minimal dissection on the arterial intimal layer after using the bare-tip (crude single fiber-optic) fiber laser. The human subject showed partially successful recanalization after ELCA, with no residual stenosis after adjunctive PTCA for an occluded left anterior descending (LAD) artery (proximal lesion). A 0.014-in guide wire was used. There were no complications except for premature ventricular contractions during the procedure.

The percutaneous excimer laser angioplasty is an effective and safe tool for treating coronary artery disease.