ABSTRACT

The aim of the present study was to assess the intravascular ultrasound predictors for angiographic edge restenosis after newer generation drug-eluting stent implantation. A total of 820 patients (987 lesions) who underwent newer generation drug-eluting stent placement (236 Endeavor zotarolimus-eluting stents, 246 Resolute zotarolimus-eluting stents, and 505 everolimus-eluting stents) with 9 months of angiographic surveillance were enrolled. The post-stenting angiographic and intravascular ultrasound images of 1,668 reference segments (681 proximal and 987 distal) were analyzed. Overall, 37% of angiographically normal proximal reference segments and 21% of angiographically normal distal reference segments had plaque burden >50%. In the overall cohort of 1,668 reference segments, 47 (2.8%) had 9-month angiographic edge restenosis (diameter stenosis >50%). Edge restenosis was predicted by a post-stenting reference segment plaque burden >54.5% (sensitivity 81%, specificity 80%) and a reference segment minimum lumen area of 5.7 mm(2) (sensitivity 72%, specificity 59%). The edge restenosis rate was 2.1% in the Endeavor zotarolimus-eluting stents, 2.4% in the Resolute zotarolimus-eluting stents, and 3.4% in the everolimus-eluting stents lesions (p = 0.311). The predictive cutoff of the reference plaque burden was 56.3% for Endeavor zotarolimus-eluting stents, 57.3% for Resolute zotarolimus-eluting stents, and 54.2% for everolimus-eluting stents. The criteria for residual plaque burden were similar between proximal and distal reference segments (56.4% vs 51.9%, respectively), but the minimum lumen area criteria were quite different (<7.1 mm(2) for proximal vs <4.8 mm(2) for distal reference segments). In conclusion, after newer drug-eluting stent implantation, edge restenosis was predicted by post-stenting reference segment plaque burden >55%.