Characteristics and outcomes of patients with percutaneous coronary intervention for unprotected left main coronary artery disease: a Hong Kong experience.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the intermediate-term outcomes of patients with unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis who were treated with percutaneous coronary intervention in Hong Kong. DESIGN Historical cohort. SETTING A regional hospital in Hong Kong. PATIENTS Patients with unprotected left main coronary artery disease undergoing stenting with bare-metal stents or drug-eluting stents between January 2008 and September 2011. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Incidence of restenosis and major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events including cardiac death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, stroke, and target lesion revascularisation. RESULTS Of the 111 patients included in the study, 86 received drug-eluting stents and 25 received bare-metal stents. Procedural success was achieved in 98.2% of cases. Angiographic follow-up was available in 83.8% of cases and restenosis rate was significantly lower with drug-eluting stents than with bare-metal stents (14.0% vs 40.0%; P=0.004). After a mean clinical follow-up of 26.1 (standard deviation, 12.6) months, the incidences of cardiac death (5.8% vs 16.0%; P=0.191) and non-fatal myocardial infarction (3.5% vs 8.0%; P=0.262) were similar between drug-eluting stents and bare-metal stents. However, the risks of target lesion revascularisation (9.3% vs 32.0%; P=0.001) and major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (19.8% vs 44.0%; P=0.004) were significantly lower with drug-eluting stents than with bare-metal stents. CONCLUSIONS Performing percutaneous coronary intervention for unprotected left main coronary artery disease was safe and feasible in selected patients with high procedural success rate. The incidence of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events in patients receiving drug-eluting stents remains low after intermediate-term follow-up. Compared with bare-metal stents, drug-eluting stents were associated with a lower need for repeating revascularisation without increasing the risk of death or myocardial infarction in patients with unprotected left main coronary artery disease.