Application of a tapered teflon dilator to percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty.

A tapered teflon dilator has been applied to 12 cases of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). The technique was first used to predilate stenoses that could not initially be crossed with low profile over the wire PTCA balloons. In the first five cases, three angioplasties that would have been failures were converted to successes by this method. The dilator was used in place of a balloon catheter as an initial step to assess the ability of a guidewire to cross a lesion to reduce cost in five additional cases. Modification of an existing family of peripheral vascular dilators is described. The method of application of this technique to PTCA is outlined.