Effectiveness of excimer laser coronary angioplasty in acute myocardial infarction or in unstable angina pectoris

Utilization of excimer laser debulking for critical lesions unsuitable for standard renal angioplasty

“…Importantly, the excimer laser facilitates removal of the thrombus which frequently accompanies atherosclerotic plaques. This has been validated in patients with acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina pectoris whereby quantitative analysis by an independent core laboratory demonstrated 96% reduction of thrombus burden with the laser emission in the acute myocardial infarction group and 97% reduction in the unstable angina group [22]. Furthermore, it appears that the larger the thrombus content, the higher the yield of the laser as a thrombectomy device [21].…”

Coronary Intervention with the Excimer Laser: Review of the Technology and Outcome Data

“…17,18 ELCA may be a beneficial given its potential for effective thrombus removal, 19 promotion of fibrinolysis, 20 plateletstunning effects 21 and concomitant plaque debulking. 22 We have published case reports of how effective ELCA can be at dealing with a large burden of intra-coronary thrombus providing excellent immediate and long-term results. 23,24 However, clinical data supporting the use of ELCA in AMI remain limited.…”

Excimer laser ablation for valvular angioplasty in pulmonary atresia and intact ventricular septum

“…The precision and safety of laser ablation as demonstrated in our case was further corroborated by our histopathologic examination of a specimen of heart demonstrating no laser-induced injury. Currently, pulsed-wave excimer lasers are used for multiple tasks [39][40][41][42][43]. Those include revascularization of coronary and saphenous venous grafts by plaque debulking and thrombus removal in acute coronary syndromes, including acute myocardial infarction and unstable angina.…”