Angiographic follow-up and clinical experience with the flexible tantalum cordis stent

The Cordis stent is a flexible, highly radioopaque intracoronary stent engineered from a single Tantalum filament folded into a sinusoidal helical coil. It is premounted on a semicompliant balloon expandable stent delivery system. From September 1995–March 1996, 147 Cordis stents were deployed in 105 patients (aged 58 ± 12 yr, 71% male). Clinical indications for stenting were unstable angina in 59 (55%), stable angina in 41 (38%), and acute myocardial infarction in 7 (7%). The target vessel was the right coronary artery in 45%, the left anterior descending in 31%, and the circumflex artery in 22%. One stent was deployed in a vein graft, and one stent was deployed in a left internal mammary artery graft. Stent deployment was achieved in all but one patient. Acute in‐stent thrombosis occurred in 3 patients (2.9%). Two of these patients required urgent coronary artery bypass surgery. Subacute stent thrombosis occurred in 2 patients (1.9%). Minimum lumen diameter increased from 0.70 ± 0.41 mm to 3.50 ± 0.60 mm following stent placement. All patients received aspirin. Eighty‐one patients (77%) received ticlopidine, and 4 patients (4%) received warfarin therapy. The mean hospital stay was 3.4 ± 2.3 days. Six‐month follow‐up angiography was performed on 50 out of 55 eligible patients at one of the two institutions involved in this study. Computer‐assisted quantitative coronary angiography defined a restenosis rate of 26%. Repeat revascularization was required in 8 patients (14.5%) at 6‐mo follow‐up. The Tantalum Cordis intracoronary stent is an effective and safe means of treating coronary lesions, even in patients with unstable ischemic syndromes. Acute and subacute rates of in‐stent thrombosis were acceptable, and the long‐term angiographic restenosis rates and need for repeat revascularization were favorable. Cathet. Cardiovasc. Diagn. 43:168–173, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.