The lumen diameter reduction after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is well known as “restenosis”. This phenomenon is due to vessel remodeling/recoil in case of no-stent strategy or, in case of stent employ, “neointimal proliferation” that consists in an excessive tissue proliferation in the luminal surface of the stent otherwise by a further new-occurring atherosclerotic process called “neoatherosclerosis”. The exact incidence of in-stent restenosis (ISR) is not easy to determine caused by different clinical, angiographic and operative factors. In the pre-stent era the occurrence of restenosis ranged between 32–55% of all angioplasties, and drop to successively 17–41% in the bare metal stents (BMS) era. The advent of drug-eluting stent (DES), especially 2nd generation, and drug-coated balloon (DCB) further reduce restenosis rate until <10%. We here review the main characteristics of this common complication of coronary interventions, from its pathogenesis to the most appropriate treatment strategy.

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) and takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTS) are two non-atherosclerotic causes of myocardial infarction. They share several common features. Firstly, they have a predilection for the female gender and, in both, the exact mechanism has yet to be fully established. Both they could be responsible for an acute coronary syndrome. Hence, we want to do further consideration based on pathophysiology, literature review, and cases presented affected by both entities up today.

Drug-coated balloons (DCBs) are a novel development for percutaneous coronary intervention. The first successful application was in-stent restenosis but in recent years, strong evidence has been re...

Background: The optimal management of patients with spontaneous coronary artery dissection remains debated. Methods: Patients enrolled in the DISCO (Dissezioni Spontanee Coronariche) Registry up to December 2020 were included. The primary end point was major adverse cardiovascular events, a composite of all-cause death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and repeat percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Independent predictors of PCI and medical management were investigated. Results: Among 369 patients, 129 (35%) underwent PCI, whereas 240 (65%) were medically managed. ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction (68% versus 35%, P <0.001), resuscitated cardiac arrest (9% versus 3%, P <0.001), proximal coronary segment involvement (32% versus 7%, P <0.001), and Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction flow 0 to 1 (54% versus 20%, P <0.001) were more frequent in the PCI arm. In-hospital event rates were similar. Between patients treated with PCI and medical therapy, there were no differences in terms of major adverse cardiovascular events at 2 years (13.9% versus 11.7%, P =0.467), all-cause death (0.7% versus 0.4%, P =0.652), myocardial infarction (9.3% versus 8.3%, P =0.921) and repeat PCI (12.4% versus 8.7%, P =0.229). ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction at presentation (odds ratio [OR], 3.30 [95% CI, 1.56–7.12]; P =0.002), proximal coronary segment involvement (OR, 5.43 [95% CI, 1.98–16.45]; P =0.002), Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction flow grade 0 to 1 and 2 (respectively, OR, 3.22 [95% CI, 1.08–9.96]; P =0.038; and OR, 3.98 [95% CI, 1.38–11.80]; P =0.009) and luminal narrowing (OR per 5% increase, 1.13 [95% CI, 1.01–1.28]; P =0.037) were predictors of PCI, whereas the 2B-angiographic subtype predicted medical management (OR, 0.25 [95% CI, 0.07–0.83]; P =0.026). Conclusions: Clinical presentation and procedural variables drive the choice of the initial therapeutic approach in spontaneous coronary artery dissection. If PCI is needed, it seems to be associated with a similar risk of short-to-mid-term adverse events compared to medical treatment. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov ; Unique identifier: NCT04415762.