The use of Gianturco-Roubin flexible metallic coronary stents in old saphenous vein grafts: in-hospital outcome and 7 day angiographic patency.

After placement of a Gianturco-Roubin metallic, coiled coronary stent(s) following balloon angioplasty (PTCA), a pre-discharge (7 day) angiogram determined the patency of the old coronary bypass vein graft(s) (SVG) (> or = 5 years remote from their last surgery, mean age: 8.5 +/- 1.8 years). Metallic, coiled stents were successfully deployed in 95/96 (99%) patients within 100/101 (99%) SVGs. The indications for deployment were threatened [81 patients (84%)] or acute [15 patients (16%)] vein graft closure following PTCA. Intragraft urokinase infusion was performed in 17 patients (17%) [6 patients with baseline occlusions; 11 with abrupt closure post PTCA]. Complications encountered included three (3%) in-hospital deaths (two procedure related) two (2%) Q wave myocardial infarctions, six (6%) non-Q wave myocardial infarctions, and 22 (22%) bleeding problems. These included, not mutually exclusively, 21 (22%) requiring transfusions, six (6%) cases of gastrointestinal bleeding, six (6%) pseudoaneurysms, five (5%) retroperitoneal haemorrhages and two (2%) cerebrovascular accidents. All patients received dipyridamole, aspirin, dextran, and anticoagulation (heparin 10-20,000 U intra-procedurally); a heparin infusion was continued for 5 +/- 1 days, despite warfarin administration which attained a therapeutic prothrombin time (PT) (1.5-2 times control) by 3 +/- 1 days. Out of the 95 successfully treated patients, six with eight stented grafts were ineligible for pre-discharge angiography. Of the six, three died in hospital (four SVGs), one had an intracerebral haemorrhage (one SVG), and two were asymptomatic patients with chronic renal failure (three SVGs).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)