Quantitative angiographic follow-up of the coronary wallstent in native vessels and bypass grafts (European experience - March 1986 to March 1990)

The coronary stent has been investigated as an adjunct to percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty to obviate the problems of early occlusion and late restenosis. From March 1986 to March 1990, 265 patients (308 lesions) were implanted with the coronary Wallstent in 6 European centers. For this study, the patients were analyzed according to date of implantation (group 1, March 1986 to January 1988; group 2, February 1988 to March 1990) and vessel type (native arteries versus bypass grafts). Quantitative angiographic follow-up was performed in 82% of the study patients. The early in-hospital occlusion rate in the overall group was 15%. Group 1 patients had a 20% rate in contrast to 12% rate in group 2 (p = not significant [NS]). The early occlusion rate in native vessels and bypass grafts was 19 and 8%, respectively (p = 0.019). Restenosis was determined by 2 criteria (criterion 1, greater than or equal to 0.72 mm loss in minimal luminal diameter from poststent to follow-up; criterion 2, greater than or equal to 50% diameter stenosis at follow-up) within the stent and in the segments immediately proximal and distal to the stent. The restenosis rate with criterion 1 was 43% in the overall group of patients, 35% in group 1 versus 49% in group 2 (p = NS), and 34% in native vessels versus 54% in bypass grafts (p = 0.016). The second criterion was met by 27% of patients in the overall group, 21% in group 1 versus 32% in group 2 (p = NS), and 18% in native vessel versus 39% in bypass grafts (p = 0.005).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)