Laser-opened coronary arteries close again within months—

Abstract

In an update of work reported a few months ago ( JAMA [MEDICAL NEWS] 1983;250:3135-3141), Daniel S. J. Choy, MD, St Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, New York City, has told a Milan, Italy, conference that the argon laser has successfully opened occluded arteries—in a matter of a few minutes—in another three patients. However, as with five other patients who underwent the laser angioplasty procedure earlier, all of the arteries closed up again within three months. All of the laser angioplasties were carried out at the Centre de Chirurgie Cardio-Vasculaire, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Purpan (Center for Cardiovascular Surgery, Central University Hospital, University of Purpan) near Toulouse, in southern France. The team consisted of Choy, Simon H. Stertzer, MD, research director, and Richard K. Myler, MD, medical director, San Francisco Heart Institute of Seton Medical Center, Daly City, Calif; Jean Marcos, MD, professor of medicine, of the Toulouse III Faculte de Medecin (Faculty