Drug-eluting stents with biodegradable polymer for the treatment of patients with diabetes mellitus: clinical outcome at 2 years in a large population of patients

Marcus Wiemer,1 Gian Battista Danzi,2 Nick West,3 Vassilios Voudris,4 René Koning,5 Stefan Hoffmann,6 Mario Lombardi,7 Josepa Mauri,8 Rade Babic,9 Fraser Witherow10On behalf of the NOBORI 2 Investigators 1Department of Cardiology, Heart and Diabetes Center North Rhine–Westphalia, Ruhr University Bochum, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany; 2Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy; 3Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, UK; 4Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece; 5Clinique Saint Hilaire, Rouen, France; 6Vivantes Netzwerk für Gesundheit GmbH, Berlin, Germany; 7Azienda Ospedaliera Villa Sofia, Palermo, Italy; 8Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Spain; 9Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases Dedinje, Belgrade, Serbia; 10Dorset County Hospital, Dorchester, UK Objective: This study investigates the safety and efficacy of a third-generation drug-eluting stent (DES) with biodegradable polymer in the complex patient population of diabetes mellitus (DM). Clinical trial registration: ISRCTN81649913. Background: Percutaneous coronary interventions in patients with DM are associated with a higher incidence of death, restenosis, and stent thrombosis as compared to non-diabetic patients. The use of a DES has been shown to improve outcomes in diabetic patients. Methods: Out of 3,067 patients, enrolled in 126 centers worldwide in the NOBORI 2 registry, 888 patients suffered from DM, 213 of them (14%) being insulin-dependent DM (IDDM). Two years’ follow-up has been completed in this study. Results: At 1- and 2-year follow-up, 97% and 95% of the patients, respectively, were available. The reported target lesion failure (TLF) rates at 1- and 2-year follow-up were 6.0% and 7.2% in the DM group, respectively, and 3.0% and 4.2% in the non-DM group, respectively (P<0.001 for both years). Inside the DM group, the TLF rates of 9.9% and 11.7% at the 1- and 2-year follow-ups, respectively, in patients with IDDM were significantly higher than the TLF rates of 4.7% and 5.8%, respectively, in the non-IDDM subgroup (P<0.01 for both years). The rate of stent thrombosis at the 2-year follow-up was 1.0% in the DM group and 0.7% in non-DM patients. There were no cases of late, or very late stent thrombosis in IDDM patients. Conclusion: The Nobori DES performed well in patients with DM. As expected, patients with DM, particularly those with IDDM, had worse outcomes. However, the absence of late, and very late stent thrombosis in IDDM patients merits further investigation, as this finding might have significant clinical value. Keywords: diabetes mellitus, percutaneous coronary intervention, biodegradable polymer, drug-eluting stent

INCREASED ECHODENSITY OF TRANSIENTLY ASYNERGIC MYOCARDIUM IN HUMANS - A NOVEL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC SIGN OF MYOCARDIAL-ISCHEMIA

Objectives. This study was conducted to establish whether changes in myocardial texture can be observed in humans by transthoracic echocardiography during ischemic episodes of different severity and duration induced by various pathogenetic mechanisms. Background. Increased echoreflectivity of ischemic myocardium has been detected in experimental animals by epicardial echocardiography and by backscatter evaluation. Methods. Transthoracic two-dimensional echocardiographic monitoring with a commercially available electronic sector scanner (2.25- or 3.5-MHz transducer) was performed during 35 episodes of transient myocardial ischemia induced by ergonovine in patients with vasospastic angina (n = 9), by dipyridamole in patients with angiographically assessed coronary artery disease (n = 11) and by balloon occlusion during coronary angioplasty (n = 15). Quantitative texture analysis of gray levels was performed off-line on digitized images during rest conditions, ischemia and the recovery phase in regions showing normal contraction at rest, obvious dyssynergy during ischemia and normal contraction in the recovery phase. In each condition, a control region with normal contraction throughout the study was also evaluated. Results. Chest pain occurred in 23 of the 35 episodes; electrocardiographic (ECG) changes were present in 26 episodes, and consisted of ST segment elevation in 13, ST segment depression in 10 and pseudonormalization of a basally negative T wave in 3. The duration of ischemic episodes was 67 +/- 53 s by symptomatic criteria and 91 +/- 52 s by ECG criteria. The risk region showed an increased end-diastolic mean gray level amplitude in a. u. (arbitrary units) during ischemia (57 +/- 19) compared with rest (38 +/-15) and recovery (38 +/- 18, p < 0.01). No significant changes were detected in the control region (rest 36 +/- 16 vs. ischemia 34 +/- 18 vs. recovery 31 +/- 13, p = NS). The percent increase in mean gray level was similar in the various types of stress employed (ergonovine, dipyridamole or angioplasty) and was not significantly correlated with either the duration of ST segment shift (r = 0.05, p = NS) or the severity of dyssynergy evaluated semiquantitatively by means of the wall motion score (r = 0.28, p = NS). In the 15 balloon occlusions performed in six patients during coronary angioplasty, the increased echoreflectivity of the risk zone was already evident during echocardiographic sampling performed after 10 +/- 4 s of occlusion (rest 35 +/- 9 vs. 53 +/- 10 a. u., p < 0.01) when no dyssynergy could be detected by quantitative wall motion analysis (percent area change by fixed center of mass reference system 31 +/- 10% at rest vs. 32 +/-11% after 10 s of occlusion, p = NS). Conclusions. Transient short-lasting myocardial ischemia is associated with an abrupt increase in myocardial echodensity detectable by videodensitometric analysis applied to standard transthoracic echocardiographic images and is largely independent of the underlying pathogenetic mechanism (reduced blood supply or flow maldistribution with coronary stenosis). During controlled coronary occlusion, increased echodensity precedes the onset of regional dyssynergy