Impact of a combination of full coverage stenting and proximal optimization technique on long term outcome for unprotected distal left main disease.

BACKGROUND

There is no consensual opinion regarding the percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedure for unprotected distal left main (UDLM) lesion.

METHODS

Between April 2005 and August 2011, 586 consecutive patients with UDLM stenosis treated with drug-eluting stents were recruited for this study to clarify the impact of combination of full-coverage stenting and proximal optimization technique (POT) for UDLM lesion. An optimal strategy of full-coverage stenting and POT was performed in 353 patients and the other 233 patients were not optimally treated. Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) were defined as all-cause death, myocardial infarction, or target lesion revascularization (TLR) during follow-up period. TLRs were also evaluated for main branch (MB) restenosis.

RESULTS

At 1615days of follow-up, MACE occurred in 166 (28.3%) patients. The occurrence of MACE and TLR had a trend to being lower in the optimal strategy [propensity score-adjusted HR, 0.73 (95% CI, 0.53-1.01), p=0.05 and propensity score-adjusted HR, 0.69 (95% CI, 0.46-1.02), p=0.06, respectively]. TLR of the MB occurred significantly less frequently in the optimal strategy [propensity score-adjusted HR, 0.34 (95% CI, 0.15-0.76), p=0.008]. Cardiac death occurred in 28 (4.8%) patients. There was no significant difference in cardiac death between the two groups. These results were sustained after propensity-score matching.

CONCLUSIONS

An optimal PCI strategy of full-coverage stenting and POT might be effective for UDLM lesion to reduce the occurrence of MACE, especially driven by TLR of the MB.