Temporal Course of Vascular Response After Fluoropolymer Paclitaxel-Eluting Stent Implantation for Femoropopliteal Artery Lesions.

Background: Limited data are available regarding the vascular response after fluoropolymer paclitaxel-eluting stent (FP-PES) implantation. This study sought to assess the vascular response at 6 and 12 months after FP-PES implantation for femoropopliteal artery lesions using serial optical coherence tomography (OCT) examination.

Methods and results: From the IMPERIAL trial, this study evaluated 10 de novo femoropopliteal lesions treated with FP-PES. The primary study endpoint was neointimal tissue coverage at a 6- and 12-month follow up, as assessed by serial OCT examination. The incidence of peri-strut low-intensity area (PLIA) and extra-stent lumen (ESL) was also assessed. A total of 203 matched cross-sectional images were evaluated at 6 and 12 months (5,615 and 5,763 struts, respectively). From 6 to 12 months, the mean neointimal thickness tended to increase from 198 µm to 233 µm, with a significant reduction in the incidence of malapposed struts (0.59% vs. 0.28%, P=0.039). Conversely, uncovered struts and PLIA were more frequently observed at 12 months (4.4% vs. 7.8%, P=0.01; 12.7% vs. 21.0%, P<0.001, respectively). The ESL area significantly increased over time without any difference in its incidence (0.24±0.32 mmvs. 0.38±0.36 mm, P=0.009).

Conclusions: Neointimal proliferation was markedly inhibited from 6 to 12 months after FP-PES implantation, whereas the incidence of uncovered struts and PLIA significantly increased over time with the enlargement of ESL.