Unterberg C, Buchwald A B, Barath P, Schmidt T, Kreuzer H, Wiegand V
Abteilung Kardiologie und Pulmonologie, Universität Göttingen.
Dtsch Med Wochenschr. 1993 Jun 18;118(24):887-92. doi: 10.1055/s-2008-1059400.
A recently developed cutting balloon was used for coronary angioplasty in 21 patients (4 women, 17 men; mean age 57.6 [36-81] years) with coronary heart disease (angioplasty of the right coronary artery in 4, of the circumflex branch in 4, and of the anterior interventricular branch in 13 patients). The balloon contains 3-4 longitudinally arranged metal cutters to prevent uncontrolled vessel tears. An average stenosis reduction from 84 +/- 8.6% to 30 +/- 10.6% was achieved in ten patients. In the eleven others a second dilatation with a conventional balloon was necessary because of a residual stenosis of over 50% after the first dilatation with the cutting balloon. This reduced the original stenosis from 78.6 +/- 9.4% to 30.4 +/- 9.9%. Complete occlusion at the place of previous dilatation occurred in one patient 14 hours after the procedure, due to a dissection which required a stent implantation. These preliminary results suggest that the cutting balloon can achieve a stenosis reduction similar to that with a conventional balloon.
