Incidence, Predictors, Treatment, and Long-Term Prognosis of Patients with Restenosis after Long Drug-Eluting Stent Implantation for Coronary Arteries

Background: Few data on the clinical course and management of patients experiencing restenosis after implantation of long drug-eluting stents treatment for coronary arteries was available. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence, predictors, and long-term outcomes of patients with in-stent restenosis (ISR) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with long (33 mm & 38 mm) drug-eluting stents (DES) for long lesions in coronary arteries including left anterior descending artery (LAD), Lt circumflex artery (Lt Cx), right coronary artery (RCA), obtuse marginal artery (OM) & posterior descending artery (PDA). Methods: Between July 2009 and October 2010, 421 long DES had being implanted in 421 consecutive patients with significant coronary artery stenosis, with 371 patients (88%) undergoing routine follow up, clinical follow up done by exercise stress test at 6 & 12 months after stenting for 126 patients (34%), in 124 patients (33.5%) follow up was done by Computed Tomography angiography & 121 patients (32.5%) with clinically driven angiographic follow-up. A major adverse cardiac event was defined as the composite of death, myocardial infarction (MI), or target-lesion revascularization (TLR) within 15 months. Results: All patients who underwent clinical follow up were asymptomatic. The overall incidence of angiographic (CT or conventional) ISR with long (33 mm & 38 mm) DES was 4% (15 out of 371 stents) with 8 (53.3%) focal-type and 7 (46.7%) with diffuse-type ISR. Six patients (40%) underwent repeated PCI, seven (46.7%) underwent bypass surgery, and 2 (13.3%) were treated medically. During long-term follow-up (ranging from 12 26 months), there were no deaths, 3 (0.8%) MI, and 13 (3.5%) repeated target-lesion revascularization (PCI or CABG) cases. The incidence of major adverse cardiac event was 5.3% in the medical group, 10.1% in the repeated PCI group, and 21.4% in the bypass surgery group. Multivariate analysis showed that the occurrence of DES-ISR