Five-Year Clinical Outcomes After Drug-Eluting Stent Implantation Following Rotational Atherectomy for Heavily Calcified Lesions.

Background: Percutaneous coronary intervention for heavily calcified lesions requires rotational atherectomy (RA). Long-term clinical outcomes after drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation following (RA) for heavily calcified lesions remain unclear. We assessed 5-year clinical outcomes after DES implantation following RA.

Methods and results: Between March 2006 and September 2011, 219 consecutive patients with 219 lesions treated with DES following RA, were retrospectively enrolled. The cumulative 5-year incidence of target-lesion revascularization (TLR) and definite stent thrombosis (ST) were assessed. The cumulative incidence of TLR within (≤) the first year was 18.6%. Late TLR beyond (>) 1 year continued to occur at 1.9% per year without a decrease in the rate (5-year incidence, 26.0%). The cumulative incidence of definite ST at 30 days, 1 and 5 years was 0.9%, 2.3% and 2.9%, respectively. The annual rate of definite ST beyond 1 year was 0.15%. On multivariate analysis, the significant predictor of TLR within 1 year was use of first-generation DES (hazard ratio [HR], 2.09; 95% CI: 1.10-4.03, P=0.02) and that of TLR beyond 1 year was hemodialysis (HR, 3.29; 95% CI: 1.06-10.55, P=0.04).

Conclusions: Late TLR beyond 1 year continued to occur up to 5 years at a constant annual incidence, whereas very late ST was rare. Careful long-term clinical follow-up is continually needed in patients who have already received DES following RA for heavily calcified lesions.