Cardiovascular events in patients with coronary plaque rupture and nonsignificant stenosis

Abstract

The long-term outcome of patients who present with an identified plaque rupture in a nonflow-limiting lesion is not well known. We retrospectively studied 17 consecutive patients in whom intravascular ultrasound identified plaque rupture in nonflow-limiting lesions (minimum lumen area >4.0 mm2) that were not treated with coronary intervention. After a mean follow-up of 43 +/- 25 months, events related to those lesions were 1 death (6%) of undetermined cause (6%) that occurred after 69 months, no myocardial infarction, and 2 revascularizations (12%) that occurred at 3 and 67 months. Overall, the cumulative rate of cardiac events was 18%.