Objectives: To evaluate the safety and feasibility of virtual 3 Fr (V3), sheathless 5 Fr percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
Background: A small-diameter guiding catheter (GC) makes less-invasive PCI possible. The V3 is an extremely slender PCI system; however, the outcome of using this system has not yet been determined.
Methods: The V3 registry is a prospective, multicenter, non-randomized study that enrolled patients who underwent elective V3-PCI. The primary endpoint was clinical success rate, and the secondary endpoints were PCI success rate in all cases, major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular event (MACCE) at 30 days, and access-site complications.
Results: A total of 260 patients with 321 lesions were enrolled. Of this group, 70% were male and the mean age was 70.8 ± 10.0 years. Type B2/C lesions comprised 50.7% of the total. The clinical success rate was 95.8%, and the PCI success rate was 99.2%. PCI failure was reported in 2 chronic total occlusion cases. No MACCE was reported. Although there was no major bleeding, hematoma occurred at the puncture site in 12.7% of cases. There was a single radial artery occlusion (0.4%) without symptoms.
Conclusions: PCI with the V3 was safe and feasible. Radial artery occlusion and major bleeding complications were extremely low. However, access-site hematoma frequently complicated catheter exchange.