Rotational ablation of discrete lesions in the coronary arteries is safe. A nonrandomized comparison with percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty.

Rotational ablation is receiving increasing attention as a new therapeutic intervention for coronary artery disease. In a nonrandomized study, we compared echocardiographic regional wall-motion scores of patients treated with rotational ablation with those of patients treated with percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. We found that rotational ablation achieved angiographic results comparable to those of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, and was in fact associated with less myocardial ischemia. The reduction in ischemia observed in the ablation group might arise from shorter treatment times in those patients, from the use of nitroglycerin infusion in the ablation group, or from both factors.