The state of the excimer laser for coronary intervention in the drug-eluting stent era.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to determine how excimer laser coronary atherectomy (ELCA) performs in the drug-eluting stent (DES) era.

BACKGROUND: For more than 20 years, ELCA has been used for coronary intervention. With developments in the coronary intervention field, the role of ELCA is in question.

METHODS: The study includes 119 patients with 124 lesions who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with ELCA in our institution from January 2004 to May 2011.

RESULTS: The main indications for ELCA use were saphenous vein graft (SVG) (45 lesions), acute myocardial infarction (AMI) (7 lesions), chronic total occlusion (CTO) (32 lesions), in-stent restenosis (ISR) (15 lesions), and calcified de-novo lesions (25 lesions). High success rates were recorded for the SVG, AMI, CTO, ISR, and calcified lesion indications (91.1%, 85.7%, 93.8%, 86.7%, and 80%; respectively). ELCA related complications were reported in 10 patients (8%); four dissections, three no-reflow phenomena, two perforations, and one thrombus formation.

CONCLUSION: ELCA is an alternative solution with acceptable performance in the treatment of complex coronary lesions not ideally suitable for balloon angioplasty.