doi: 10.1161/01.CIR.0000031523.48242.51
(Circulation. 2002;106:e9009.)
© 2002 American Heart Association, Inc.
Cardiovascular News
Circulation Newswriter
An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract. |
Brachytherapy Two Years Out
Only 7 of 30 patients who underwent vascular brachytherapy after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty underwent a second procedure—3 at 6 months and 4 between 6 and 24 months—indicating that most blood vessels treated with this procedure remained stable beyond the 6-month period, according to researchers from the Montreal Heart Institute and the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel, in a report in this week’s issue of Circulation (Circulation. 2002;106:539–543).
The study, led by David Meerkin, MBBS, from the Montreal Heart Institute, used intracoronary 90Sr as a treatment to prevent restenosis in these patients who did not receive a stent. Of the 30 patients who received the radiation, 4 underwent stent deployment to the target lesion within the first week.
The authors noted that the absence of complications such as aneurysm or pseudoaneurysm formation is encouraging because it indicates that the procedure is safe. They noted, however, that, "in a small group of patients, longer-term failures are occurring." They also noted that this is a pilot study.
In a Hurry to Diagnose Heart Failure
The Breathing Not Properly study (BNP), which evaluated a point-of-care test for B-type natriuretic peptide in emergency room patients with shortness of breath, demonstrated in >1500 patients that the bedside test can quickly confirm a diagnosis of heart failure. The study, which was first presented at the March meetings of the American College of Cardiology in Atlanta, Ga, was published in the July 18, 2002, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (N Engl J Med. 2002;347:161–167).
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