Background: Data on effectiveness and safety following the implantation of very long segments of drug-eluting stents (DES) are lacking.
Aim: To describe our experience of consecutive patients undergoing implantation of very long segments of DES (> 50 mm) in de novo coronary lesions.
Methods: We evaluated major in-hospital complications, target lesion revascularization (TLR) rates and long-term outcomes in 88 consecutive patients (91 procedures) who underwent a single-vessel intervention with implantation of > 50 mm of overlapping DES to de novo lesions between October 2002 and October 2007. An additional 14 patients with long segments of in-stent restenosis, 10 receiving both DES and bare-metal stents for long-segment disease and 1 with long-segment disease in a saphenous vein graft were excluded from the study. Baseline clinical data, procedural outcomes and completed follow up were collected prospectively.
Results: Follow up was 100% complete up to April 30, 2008. The mean follow up was 26.5 months (6-60 months). The mean stent length was 70.6 mm (51-135 mm) and the average number of stents per vessel was 2.7 (2-5 stents). Acute complications included 1 case of acute stent thrombosis which was treated successfully, 1 case of aortic root dissection, and 1 case of retroperitoneal hemorrhage. The rate of non-Q-wave myocardial infarction (CKMB > 3 times normal) was 8%. During follow up, the rate of TLR was 6.5%. Five patients died, 4 of them due to noncardiac conditions. One death was attributed to possible late stent thrombosis (18 months) occurring suddenly 2 days post keloid repair. Two patients had definite very late stent thrombosis at 14 and 17 months.
Conclusion: In our experience, the use of very long segments of DES is effective in treating diffuse de novo coronary artery lesions. However, longer-term follow up is necessary and more data are required to determine the optimum duration of dual antiplatelet therapy.