[Intraoperative coronary angioscopy after unsuccessful percutaneous dilatation angioplasty and the implantation of an intracoronary stent].

In all coronary arteries after failed PTCA with subsequent stent insertion the stenosed and dilated part of the vessels were inspected. We found dissections in 17/25 coronary lesions as well as thrombus adherent to the wall of the vessels in 8/25 cases. The morphology of the coronary stenosis was compared with the preoperative cine-angiogram. The angioscopic images after failed PTCA and subsequent stent-insertion showed severe wall dissections which were located beyond the inserted stent. In none of the cases was stent-implantation the sufficient treatment of coronary lesions. In all patients we performed coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Every coronary incision was used for peripheral anastomosis of the bypass grafts.