Applicability of laser to assist coronary balloon angioplasty

Abstract Severe atherosclerotic obstructed coronary artery disease (CAD) may preclude passage of a balloon catheter for transluminal coronary angioplasty (TCA). Since lasers have been shown to effectively vaporize CAD plaque, the initial application of laser to effect a lumen large enough to accomodate the angioplasty catheter for further dilatation was explored. Eleven postmortem human CAD segments which did not permit passage of a 1.33 mm shaft diameter angloplasty catherer were studied. Argon laser radiation (14 to 90 J) transmitted via 400 μm core diameter quartz fiber onto the stenotic channel of 0.58 mm created a vaporized lumen of 1.77 mm (mean increase of 1.31 ± 0.25 mm, p p p p