Predictors of Paravalvular Regurgitation Following Implantation of the Fully Repositionable and Retrievable Lotus Transcatheter Aortic Valve (From the REPRISE II Trial Extended Cohort)

Paravalvular leak (PVL) following transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is associated with worse long-term outcomes. The Lotus Valve incorporates an innovative adaptive seal designed to minimize PVL. This analysis evaluated the incidence and predictors of PVL following implantation of the Lotus transcatheter aortic valve. The REPRISE II study with Extended Cohort enrolled 250 high-surgical risk patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis. Aortic regurgitation was assessed by echocardiography pre-procedure, at discharge and 30 days by an independent core lab. Baseline and procedural predictors of mild or greater PVL at 30 days (or at discharge if 30-day data were not available) were determined using a multivariate regression model (N=229). Among 229 patients, 197 (86%) had no/trace PVL, 30 had mild, and 2 had moderate PVL; no patient had severe PVL. Significant predictors of mild/moderate PVL included device:annulus area ratio (odds ratio [OR]: 0.87 (95% CI: 0.83-0.92); P<0.001), LVOT calcium volume (OR:2.85;(1.44-5.63); P=0.003), and annulus area (OR:0.89(0.82-0.96); P=0.002). When the device:annulus area ratio was <1, the rate of mild/moderate PVL was 53.1% (17/32). The rates of mild/moderate PVL with 0-5%, 5-10%, and >10% annular oversizing by area were 17.5% (11/63), 2.9% (2/70), and 3.2% (2/63), respectively. Significant independent predictors of PVL included device:annulus area ratio and LVOT calcium volume. When the prosthetic valve was oversized by ≥5%, the rate of mild or greater PVL was only 3%. In conclusion, the overall rates of PVL with the Lotus Valve are low and predominantly related to device/annulus areas and calcium; these findings have implications for optimal device sizing

TAXUS VI 2-year follow-up: randomized comparison of polymer-based paclitaxel-eluting with bare metal stents for treatment of long, complex lesions.

AIMS: Drug-eluting stents (DESs) have shown to be effective in reducing in-stent restenosis, although data relating to long-term experience in treating more complex lesion subsets are limited. In order to assess the long-term safety and clinical efficacy of the polymer-based moderate release (MR) paclitaxel-eluting TAXUS MR stent in treatment of complex lesion subsets, we evaluated the 2-year follow-up of TAXUS VI. METHOD AND RESULTS: TAXUS VI was a randomized multi-centre study enrolling 446 patients with complex lesions, including small vessels in 28% of patients and a mean lesion length of 20.6 mm. At 9-month follow-up, the use of the TAXUS MR stent was highly effective, resulting in a significant 53% reduction of the target vessel revascularization (TVR) rate (primary endpoint) from 19.4% in the control group to 9.1% in the TAXUS group (P = 0.0027). Clinical follow-up at 2 years post-stenting was available in 98.6% of the TAXUS group and 95.6% of the control group. The incidence of major adverse cardiac event at 1- and 2-year follow-up was 16.4% and 21.3% in the TAXUS group when compared with 22.5 and 25.1% in the control group, respectively. A significant difference in TVR was maintained at 2-year follow-up (TAXUS 13.9%; control 21.9%; P = 0.0335). The cumulative 1- and 2-year survival rates free from TVR were, respectively, 91.7 and 90.3% in the TAXUS group vs. 80.0 and 79.0% in the control group (log-rank P < 0.001). The number of patients required to be treated with a TAXUS stent to prevent one re-percutaneous coronary intervention at 2 years was 12.5. CONCLUSION: Treatment of complex coronary lesions with the polymer-based MR paclitaxel-eluting TAXUS MR stent is associated with a sustained clinical benefit and low rates of TVR up to 2 years after device implantation

Prospective non-randomized multi-centre evaluation of the non-polymer based ACHIEVE Paclitaxel Eluting Coronary Stent System in treatment of lesions with high risk of revascularization due to restenosis: the DELIVER II study

Background: The ACHIEVE Paclitaxel Eluting Coronary Stent System (CSS) is a non-polymeric paclitaxel coated stent loaded with a dose density of 3.0 microg/mm2 stent surface area. DELIVER II set out to evaluate the use of this stent in the treatment of patients with coronary lesions with a higher risk of revascularization including chronic total or sub-total occlusion, small vessel, bifurcated, and long lesions, multivessel disease, and restenotic lesions.Methods: DELIVER II was a prospective, non-randomized, single-arm, multi-centre study. A total of 1531 patients with 1986 lesions were enrolled at 86 sites worldwide. The primary endpoint was target lesion revascularization (TLR) rate at six months follow-up. The lesion subsets were comprised of 28.5% restenotic lesions, 16.5% chronic total or subtotal occlusions, 29.0% bifurcation lesions, 37.4% small vessels and 16.6% long lesions.Results: The Target Lesion Revascularization (TLR) rate (intent-to-treat) at 180 days was 8.2% (156/1909). The MACE rate for the overall per-protocol population was 3.6% (47/1310) at 30 days, 13.0% (167/1287) at 180 days, and in a sub-set of 500 patients, 20.5% (84/409) at 365 days. Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified that the factors leading to higher risk of revascularization were left anterior descending artery lesions, restenotic lesions, the post-procedural minimum luminal diameter, total stent length and number of diseased vessels.Conclusion: DELIVER II demonstrated comparatively low rates of TLR and MACE for the ACHIEVE Paclitaxel Eluting CSS in high risk patients. In addition, this registry helped to identify risk factors leading to an increased risk of revascularization in difficult-to-treat patient groups

Long-Term Vascular Healing in Response to Sirolimus- and Paclitaxel-Eluting Stents An Optical Coherence Tomography Study

Objectives This study sought to assess stent strut coverage, malapposition, protrusion, and coronary evaginations as markers of healing 5 years after implantation of sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) and paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES), by optical coherence tomography (OCT). Background Early-generation drug-eluting stents have been shown to delay vascular healing. Methods A total of 88 event-free patients with 1 randomly selected lesion were suitable for final OCT analysis 5 years after drug-eluting stent implantation. The analytical approach was based on a hierarchical Bayesian random-effects model. Results OCT analysis was performed at 5 years in 41 SES lesions with 6,380 struts, and in 47 PES lesions with 6,782 struts. A total of 196 struts were uncovered in SES (1.5%) compared with 185 struts in PES lesions (1.0%, 95% credibility interval [CrI]: 0.5 to 1.6; p = 0.32). Malapposed struts were present in 1.2% of SES compared with 0.7% of PES struts (0.7%, 95% CrI: 0.03 to 1.6; p = 0.23). Protruding struts were more frequent among SES (n = 114; 0.8%) than PES lesions (n = 24; 0.1%, 95% CrI: Conclusions Early-generation drug-eluting stents show a similar degree of strut coverage and malapposition at 5 years of follow-up. Despite an overall low degree of uncovered and malapposed struts in event-free patients, some lesions show a clustering of these characteristics, indicating a heterogeneous healing response, which may be the source for very late adverse events. (J Am Coll Cardiol Intv 2012;5:946-57) (C) 2012 by the American College of Cardiology Foundatio