[The effectiveness of stents in restinotic lesions and coronary grafts]

Abstract

Regarding restenotic lesions, the data suggest that stent implantation decrease the number of cardiac events including the restenosis rate. The higher number of acute cardiac events are related to stent thrombosis, and they are markedly reduced by the new techniques of antiagregation and implantation. The restenosis rate post-stent implantation does not bear relation to the number of previous dilations as it does with conventional angioplasty. Regarding vein grafts, the implantation of different types of stents has a high percentage of success and low rate of acute complications. The longterm survival of these patients is related more to the progression of the coronary arteriosclerosis and tend to worsen with time. Although the data on restenosis are better than with conventional angioplasty, we need to wait for the definitive results after the final conclusions of the randomized trial SAVED.