At King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital from July 1994 to December 1996, 123 stents were implanted in 75 males and 25 females. Average age of the patients was 61.3 +/- 9.6 years. Fifty-five per cent of the cases were performed in stable angina, 26 per cent in post myocardial infarction angina. 17 per cent in unstable angina and 2 per cent in acute myocardial infarction. Seventy stents were implanted in the left anterior descending artery, 25 in the left circumflex artery, 27 in the right coronary artery and one stent in the left main. The indications for stent implantation were abrupt closure in thirteen sites, mild dissection in 58, suboptimal dilatation in 19, restenosis in 23 and de novo in 10. Mean size of the stents was 2.99 +/- 0.49 mm and mean inflation pressure was 11.9 atmosphere. Palmaz-Schatz stent was the most commonly used (53.6%) followed by AVE Microstent II (42.3%). There were 3 stents loss in the right femoral artery without any complications. Two stents were misplaced, one stent dislodged in the left main and needed emergency coronary bypass graft surgery. Two patients developed acute stent thrombosis and were successfully reopened with intracoronary urokinase. No patient had major bleeding complication, subacute thrombosis, acute myocardial infarction or death.
Conclusion: Stent implantation can be performed rather safely with a high success rate and minimal complications.