Outcomes following interventions in small coronary arteries with the use of hand-crimped Palmaz-Schatz stents

Although coronary stenting has been shown to be effective, retrospective studies have suggested that stents do not provide better results than angioplasty in small coronary arteries. We sought to examine procedural, in-hospital, and long-term outcomes of patients undergoing small-vessel stenting with Palmaz-Schatz stents hand-crimped on a balloon catheter 3.0 mm can be deployed in small vessels, with a low in-hospital event rate. However, target lesion revascularization in small vessels remains high. Development of antiproliferative strategies could improve long-term outcomes for small-vessel interventions.