BACKGROUND: Percutaneous coronary intervention in small vessels is associated to poor short and long-term results with high rates of restenosis, inducing the development of newer devices for this purpose. OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility, efficacy and safety of the new CardioMindTM stent system in the treatment of small vessel coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS: Ten patients presenting a single, de novo lesion in a native coronary artery < 2.5 mm in diameter were assigned to receive the CardioMindTM stent. All patients were submitted to angiography and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) evaluation immediately post-procedure and at 6 months. The primary end-point of efficacy was assessed by the late lumen loss at angiography and percentage (%) of neointimal obstruction at IVUS at 6 months. RESULTS: Mean age was 63 ± 10.6 years, 60% were female and 60% diabetics. Reference vessel diameter and lesion length were 2.06 mm ± 0.27 mm and 9.35 mm ± 1.39 mm, respectively. Device and procedure success were obtained in all patients. At 6-month, late loss was 0.53 mm ± 0.60 mm and % of neointimal obstruction by IVUS was 24.1% ± 8.7%. One patient presented binary restenosis requiring repeat percutaneous intervention. There were no cases of cardiac death and/or myocardial infarction. CONCLUSIONS: The CardioMindTM stent system showed to be viable and safe in this "First-In-Man" study of the use of this novel device in the treatment of small vessel CAD, with encouraging results in the reduction of in-stent late loss and neointimal formation. The clinical impact of these findings should be assessed in a larger cohort of patients.
Stents; Coronary disease; Angioplasty, transluminal, percutaneous coronary; Ultrasonography
