Purpose: We compared initial outcome, peri-procedural complications and long-term clinical follow-up of elective Wiktor GX stent implantation in severely narrowed vein grafts to a historic register of elective angioplasties in saphenous vein grafts in the same center.
Methods: Eighty-one consecutive patients with angina and a history of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), all received elective angioplasty (PTCA) of the diseased graft; we described them as group P. The next 38 consecutive patients were treated with elective angioplasty and Wiktor Stent implantation, followed by one month ticlopidine; they were called group S.
Conclusion: This retrospective study suggests that elective Wiktor stenting in old saphenous vein graft stenosis, in combination with one month ticlopidine, leads to: 1) a better angiographic result, with reduction of peri-procedural complications; and 2) a lower incidence of recurrent angina, need for invasive or surgical re-intervention, myocardial infarction and death during follow-up.