Rotational atherectomy: improved procedural outcome with evolution of technique and equipment. Single-center results of first 1,000 patients.

We present our single-center experience of rotational atherectomy (RA) in the first 1,000 consecutive patients divided arbitrarily into three different time periods corresponding to significant changes in technique or equipment for RA. Period I (August 1994 to April 1995; 172 cases) is characterized by early experience, longer ablation, and frequent use of intra-aortic balloon pump; period II (May 1995 to January 1996; 254 cases) is characterized by short ablation runs (20-30 sec) and use of rotaflush; period III (February 1996 to February 1997; 574 cases) is characterized by ReoPro use, neosynephrine boluses to avoid hypotension, and rota floppy wire and flexible shaft burrs. The procedural success rate has improved and complication rates have progressively declined over these three time periods. The incidence of lesion complexity (long and type C lesions) and patients with unstable rest angina have increased over these time periods of RA. Therefore, modification in procedural techniques and equipment over time have made RA a safe technique despite its use in very complex lesion subsets.