Everolimus-Eluting Second-Generation Stents for Treatment of De Novo Lesions in Patients with Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy.

BACKGROUND Cardiac allograft vasculopathy is a major cause of cardiac allograft rejection. Percutaneous coronary intervention has become the main form of treatment of significant focal lesions. Despite the significance of the problem, data remain scarce. With a large population of transplant recipients undergoing coronary angiography at our center, we decided to analyze the implications of the use of everolimus-eluting second-generation stents by performing 6-month clinical and angiographic follow-up. MATERIAL AND METHODS From December 2012 and August 2019, 319 patients after heart transplantation undergoing coronary angiography at our institution were analyzed. Subsequently, 22 patients underwent de novo angioplasty with second-generation everolimus-eluting stents. The primary study endpoint was angiographic restenosis as evaluated by quantitative coronary angiography. Secondary outcomes included binary restenosis, target lesion revascularization, and cardiac death during the follow-up period (6 months). RESULTS Patient comorbidities included hypertension (77.3%), type 2 diabetes mellitus (68.2%), dyslipidemia (68.2%), and obesity (31.8%). Primary success was obtained in all of the treated lesions. The analysis of quantitative coronary angiography after 6-month follow-up revealed low late lumen loss (0.22±0.40). Significant restenosis was observed in 1 of the cases. There were no deaths in the 6-month observation period. CONCLUSIONS In the analyzed population, invasive strategy with second-generation everolimus-eluting stents for de novo lesions in cardiac allograft vasculopathy resulted in a low rate of binary restenosis, low late lumen loss, and no deaths during the 6-month follow-up.