Two-year follow-up of sirolimus-eluting stents for the treatment of proximal left anterior descending coronary artery stenosis.

Introduction: Sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) have demonstrated low target vessel revascularizations and low incidence of angiographic restenosis in several clinical scenarios. The aim of the present study was to assess the efficacy and safety of SES for the treatment of proximal left anterior descending coronary artery (pLAD) lesions.

Methods: Ninety-six patients with severe pLAD stenosis were enrolled. Angiographic and clinical follow-up were performed at 6 and 24 months, respectively. Death, myocardial infarction (MI), new target lesion revascularization (TLR), and target vessel failure (TVF) were registered. Clinical, angiographic, and procedural variables were analyzed to identify predictors of restenosis.

Results: Mean clinical follow-up was 858+/-158 days (26.5+/-8.3 months). Angiographic procedural success was 100%. Angiographic follow-up showed 8.4% of binary restenosis without edge-restenosis phenomenon. Late loss was 0.15+/-0.65 mm; 15.6% of patients had an adverse cardiac event, with 1% of death, 5.2% of MI, 6.3% of TLR, and 9.4% of TVF. At 2 years, the probabilities of cumulative TVF- and TLR-free survival were 90.6% and 93.7%, respectively. Interestingly, no adverse cardiac events were registered between the first and second years. Female gender (OR 10.7 CI 95%[1.7-66.7]) and in-stent restenosis (OR 8.2, CI 95%[1.2-56.4]) were found as independent predictors of binary restenosis. Advanced chronic renal failure showed a strong trend toward worse outcome in terms of binary restenosis (P=0.063).

Conclusions: SES for the treatment of pLAD stenosis proved safe and effective in a long-term follow-up with low incidence of adverse cardiac events and restenosis. Female gender and in-stent restenosis were predictors of binary restenosis.