Are Paclitaxel-Eluting Stents Better in Unprotected Left Main Coronary Artery Disease? Three-Year Clinical and Intravascular Imaging Results From a Randomized Study

Background and Objective. Recent publications have demonstrated superior outcomes in unprotected left main patients after paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES) implantation. Long-term data in these patients are limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate if intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided PES implantation is superior to bare metal stent (BMS) implantation in unprotected left main disease after lesion pretreatment with cutting balloon during long-term follow-up. Material and Methods. Unprotected left main patients were randomized to BMS (n=50) or PES implantation (n=53). All interventions were IVUS-guided and cutting balloon pretreatment before stenting was performed in all patients. All patients were scheduled for 6-month and 3-year follow-up. Subgroups of patients who underwend IVUS and OCT imaging at 3-year follow-up were analyzed. The primary endpoint was the major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) defined as death, Q-wave myocardial infarction, or target lesion revascularization. Results. Baseline characteristics were similar in both the groups with a mean SYNTAX score of 31.4±14.5 in BMS and 32.6±11.7 in PES patients (P=0.718). At 3 years, MACEs occurred in 18 patients (36.0%) in the BMS and 7 patients (13.2%) in the PES group (P=0.011). By IVUS, percent neointimal volume obstruction at 3 years was reduced from 18.1%±8.7% with BMSs to 10.0%±5.4% with PESs (P<0.001). The total number of uncovered stent struts per OCT image and IVUS image was 0.4±0.8 and 1.2±1.5, respectively (P<0.001). Conclusions. The current study demonstrated that IVUS-guided PES implantation was superior to BMS implantation after cutting balloon pretreatment in unprotected left main disease at 3 years. If compared with IVUS, OCT was more precise in the assessment of stent endothelization

Carotid artery stenting outcomes in high-risk patients receiving best medical therapy : Results from a single high-volume interventional cardiology practice

Publisher Copyright: © 2016Background Carotid artery stenting (CAS) is now being widely used in the treatment of carotid artery stenosis. Recent clinical studies have demonstrated low adverse event rates after CAS. This study evaluates the 30-day and 1-year results in patients treated with CAS and receiving intensive medical therapy in a high-volume percutaneous coronary intervention center. Methods A total of 184 patients underwent CAS between January 2011 and December 2013. In addition to antiplatelet therapy, patients received intensive antihypertensive treatment, high intensity statin and heart rate normalization therapy. Patients were stratified according to age and symptomatic status. Results Most of the patients (86.4%) had at least one high surgical risk criteria. The procedural success rate was 98.4%. The 30-day and 1-year incidence of stroke were 4.1% and 4.5%, respectively. At 30 days the combined rate of stroke/cardiovascular (CV) death/myocardial infarction (MI) was 5.8% and 10.9% in 1 year. The 30-day incidence of stroke/CV death in asymptomatic and symptomatic patients was 5.4% and 4.2%, respectively. Age ≥80 years increased the risk of stroke/CV death/MI at 1 year (OR 4.41; 95% CI 1.06–18.36; P = 0.04). Conclusions The study demonstrated acceptable clinical outcome results in patients with high medical comorbidities treated with CAS and intensive medical therapy. Adverse event rate in symptomatic patients did not exceed the guideline recommended range while in asymptomatic patients it was increased.publishersversionPeer reviewe