The purpose of this article is to review and update the current status of carotid artery stent placement in the world. Surveys to major interventional centers in Europe, North and South America, and Asia were initially completed in June 1997. Subsequent information from these 24 centers in addition to 12 new centers has been obtained to update the information. The survey asked the various questions regarding the patients enrolled, procedure techniques, and results of carotid stenting, including complications and restenosis. The total number of endovascular carotid stent procedures that have been performed worldwide to date included 5,210 procedures involving 4,757 patients. There was a technical success of 98.4% with 5,129 carotid arteries treated. Complications that occurred during the carotid stent placement or within a 30-day period following placement were recorded. Overall, there were 134 transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) for a rate of 2.82%. Based on the total patient population, there were 129 minor strokes with a rate of occurrence of 2.72%. The total number of major strokes was 71 for a rate of 1.49%. There were 41 deaths within a 30-day postprocedure period resulting in a mortality rate of 0.86%. The combined minor and major strokes and procedure-related death rate was 5.07%. Restenosis rates of carotid stenting have been 1.99 % and 3.46% at 6 and 12 months, respectively. The rate of neurologic events after stent placement has been 1.42% at 6 -12-month follow-up. Endovascular stent treatment of carotid artery atherosclerotic disease is growing as an alternative for vascular surgery, especially for patients that are high risk for standard carotid endarterectomy. The periprocedure risks for major and minor strokes and death are generally acceptable at this early stage of development and have not changed significantly since the first survey results. Cathet. Cardiovasc. Intervent. 50:160 -167, 2000.

Schiff-base lateral macrobicycles containing two different binding units, a rigid and unsaturated N(2)X set (X: N, O) and a flexible and cyclic N(2)O(n)() set, linked by two aromatic bridges, have been prepared by reaction of the appropriate bibracchial diamines N,N'-bis(aminobenzyl)-diaza-crown and diformyl precursors in the presence of Ba(II) as templating agent. The expected cryptands do not form in the absence of the cation; the presence of this metal ion is necessary to orient the diamine precursor in a syn conformation. Comparison of the X-ray crystal structures of the barium complex of the bibracchial diamine N,N'-bis(2-aminobenzyl)-1,10-diaza-15-crown-5 and the barium complex of the cryptand derived from it incorporating a pyridine unit indicates that the encapsulation of the metal ion is clearly more effective in the case of the cryptand. The coordination of Ba(II) ion to the pyridine nitrogen atom promotes the displacement of the metal into the cavity of the cryptand as well as important changes in the conformation of the crown unit, although the fold of the pendant arms remains practically unchanged. The cryptands reported constitute the first example of a novel family of macrobicycles.

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The bibracchial lariat ether N, , in its di-deprotonated form, behaves as a selective receptor for lanthanide() ions. It only forms stable complexes with the three lightest members of the lanthanide series, lanthanum(), cerium() and praseodymium(). The X-ray crystal structures of these three complexes show the metal ion ten-coordinated and deeply buried in the cavity of the dianionic receptor. In all three structures the lariat ether presents a syn arrangement. However, the different size of the encapsulated metal ion modifies the conformation of the receptor, particularly in the fold of the crown, resulting in a very different coordination polyhedron for La() (distorted tetracapped trigonal prism) with respect to that of Ce() and Pr() (bicapped square antiprism). Spectrophotometric titration of the dianionic lariat ether with anhydrous La(ClO 4 ) 3 in acetonitrile allowed us to calculate log K[La(L Ϫ 2H)] = 4.65(4).