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URMC » Quality » Ratings » Ptca

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• Choose Us
• Commitment to Quality
• Quality Measures
  • Heart Attack
  • Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA)
    • Overview
    • Number of PTCA procedures performed annually
    • Number of interventional cardiologists exceeding guidelines for individual physician volume for PTCA
    • Board certification of interventional cardiologists
    • Average length of stay for PTCA
    • Data bank reporting of PTCA
    • Inpatient mortality rate for PTCA
    • Advanced techniques: Use of drug-eluting stents
  • Coronary Bypass Surgery (CABG)
  • Heart Failure
  • Pneumonia
  • Robotic Prostatectomy
  • Stroke
• Glossary of Terms

 

Advanced Techniques: Use of Drug-Eluting Stents

Cardiologists who perform PTCA procedures at Strong Memorial Hospital use drug-eluting stents in appropriate patient situations.

Restenosis (renarrowing or reblockage) of an opened coronary artery after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) with a bare-metal stent (a tiny, expandable metal coil that is inserted into the newly opened area of the artery to help keep the artery from narrowing or closing again) occurs at rates of up to 30% in some groups of patients. This restenosis may require one or more additional procedures to reopen the artery (The New England Journal of Medicine, October 2, 2003: 349(14); 1315-1323).

The use of drug-eluting stents (stents containing medication that helps prevent restenosis by gradually releasing the medication over time) has been shown to decrease restenosis after PTCA and stent placement, as well as to decrease the need for additional procedures to reopen an artery (Journal of the American College of Cardiology, February 18, 2004: 43(4); 507-512).