Objective: In patients with multivessel coronary artery disease and total occlusion of major epicardial vessel, completeness of revascularization has not been investigated in specific trials comparing the surgical and the percutaneous revascularization strategy. Analyzing the database of the CABRI study, which randomized a substantial number of these patients, we investigated the long-term effects of a successful or unsuccessful revascularization of the occluded vessel and completeness of the revascularization.
Methods and results: The CABRI study randomized 1054 patients with multivessel coronary disease to coronary bypass or to coronary angioplasty. From the database of this trial, we selected patients with a major vessel chronically occluded (103 in the bypass group and 120 in the angioplasty group). At a median follow-up of 30 months, the incidence of death or Q-wave myocardial infarction (combined end point) was significantly lower in the bypass group than in the angioplasty group (6.8% vs 17.5%, respectively; hazard ratio [HR], 0.42 [95% CI 0.17-0.98]; p=0.047). On univariate analysis, age, proximal occlusion, complete revascularization, revascularization of the occluded vessel and revascularization procedure were identified as significant predictors of combined end points. On multivariate analysis, independent predictors of combined end points resulted in completeness of revascularization (HR 0.26; 95% CI 0.09-0.76; p=0.01) and age (HR 1.07; 95% CI 1.02-1.12; p<0.01).
Conclusion: In patients with multivessel coronary disease and chronic occlusion of a major epicardial vessel, achieving of a complete revascularization by reopening or bypassing the occluded vessel is associated with a significantly better long-term prognosis.