FREQUENCY AND CAUSES OF FAILURE WITH CONTEMPORARY BALLOON CORONARY ANGIOPLASTY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Over the past decade of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), greater operator experience and improvements in balloon catheters and guidewires have resulted in lesion success rates of ≥90%.1,2 Despite the improved success of contemporary PTCA, numerous new technologies, including lasers, stents and atherectomy devices, have recently been introduced and championed as potential alternatives to the balloon catheter. The ease and success of current balloon procedures mandate that new therapies must either increase the primary success rates of interventional approaches, eliminate or help manage complications, or reduce restenosis. To better appreciate deficiencies with contemporary PTCA techniques that may be addressed with non-balloon catheter technologies, we analyzed the frequency, cause and outcome of failed PTCA in our most recent experience. © 1990.