The Saint-Henri Clinic belongs to a group of several clinics called 'Nouvelles Cliniques Nantaises' which comprise 265 hospital beds including 35 beds for the Cardiology Department (6 beds in the intensive coronary care unit)

L'Unité de Soins et de Cardiologie Interventionnelle
In 2001 the physicians of the Interventional Cardiology and Care Unit (Dr. Y. Banus, Dr. Ph. Brunel and Dr. B. Leurent) treated 860 patients by coronary angioplasty.

The volume of interventional rhythmology procedures has also been increasing and, in addition to pacing, 300 radiofrequency ablation procedures were carried out in 2001 by Dr JP Cebron and Dr D. Gras.

Treatment of Bifurcation Lesions
Having been involved in the treatment of bifurcation lesions since 1996, I reported the long-term follow-up of two multi-center series carried out in the west of France by the GARO ( Groupe des Angioplasticiens de la Région Ouest) at the Scientific Sessions of the European Society Meeting and of the American Heart Association meeting in 1998 as well as at the 3rd International Congress on Coronary Artery Disease (Lyons, France, October 2-5, 2000). I have also developed a bench test and reported a new technical series at the Endocoronary Biomechanics and Restenosis Symposium organized by Dr P. Barragan and Dr Rieu in 2002. The purpose of this study is the assessment of several stents with respect to stent strut crossing with a quantitative in vitro analysis of stent deformation following the crossing of the struts with a balloon catheter. This study is still underway.