Early-Stage Vascular Response between Bare Metal Stent and Drug-Free Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold in the Small-Sized Peripheral Artery: A Preclinical Study in Porcine Femoral Arteries.

BACKGROUND: The clinical benefits and outcomes of the interventional treatment of small-sized infrapopliteal arteries using stent implantation remain uncertain. The aim of this study was to compare the safety and efficacy of drug-free bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS) with that of bare metal stent (BMS) in endovascular treatment of small-sized peripheral arteries. METHODS: In this study, drug-free BVS and BMS were used in eight porcine models. We compared the angiographic and histomorphometric findings in the two groups at 4 weeks. In each pig, BVS and BMS of adequate sizes were implanted in the small branch (<3 mm) of the femoral artery. Angiography, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), and histomorphometric analysis were performed at 4 weeks. RESULTS: In the 4-week follow-up angiography and IVUS examination, the minimal luminal diameter was smaller and diameter stenosis was more severe in the BVS group. Histomorphometric findings indicated that the lumen area in the BVS group was smaller (0.34 ± 0.28 mm2 vs. 1.40 ± 0.52 mm2, P < 0.001), whereas the neointimal area (2.70 ± 1.28 mm2 vs. 1.76 ± 0.66 mm2, P = 0.013), area stenosis (85.18 ± 13.14 % vs. 54.99 ± 16.13 %, P < 0.001), inflammatory score (2.07 ± 0.861 vs. 28 ± 0.39, P = 0.003), and fibrin scores (1.24 ± 0.70 vs. 0.79 ± 0.72, P = 0.043) were significantly higher in the BVS group. The injury score was higher in the BMS group. In histopathologic findings, restenosis was mainly due to recoil and distortion of the scaffold in the BVS group. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with BMS, drug-free BVS was not feasible for small-sized peripheral arteries based on the angiographic, IVUS, and histomorphometric results primarily due to insufficient mechanical support.

Stenting versus balloon angioplasty alone in patients with below-the-knee disease: A propensity score-matched analysis.

Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) is considered an effective treatment in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI). However, the long-term durability of below-the-knee (BTK) PTA is known to be limited. This study sought to compare the 1-year clinical outcomes following stenting versus balloon angioplasty alone in BTK lesions. This study included 357 consecutive patients (400 limbs, 697 lesions) with BTK lesions who underwent PTA from September 2010 to December 2016. All enrolled patients were treated either by stenting (stent group; 111 limbs of 102 patients) or plain old balloon angioplasty (POBA group; 289 limbs of 255 patients). Stent group includes both primary and provisional stenting. Angiographic outcomes, procedural success, complications, and clinical outcomes were compared between the two groups up to 1 year. After propensity score matching (PSM) analysis, 56 pairs were generated, and the baseline and angiographic characteristics were balanced. The procedural success and complications were similar between the two groups; however, the incidence of procedure-related perforation was higher in the POBA group than in the stenting group [5(11.9%) vs.1 (0.9%), P = 0.009]. Six- to 9-month computed tomography or angiographic follow-up showed similar incidences of binary restenosis, primary patency, and secondary patency. In the 1-year clinical follow-up, there were similar incidences of individual hard endpoints, including mortality, myocardial infarction, limb salvage, and amputation rate, with the exception of target extremity revascularization (TER), which tended to be higher in the stenting group than in the POBA group [21 (20.8%) vs. 11 (10.9%), P = 0.054]. Although there was a trend toward a higher incidence of TER risk in the stenting group, stent implantation, particularly in bail-out stenting seemed to have acceptable 1-year safety and efficacy compared to POBA alone in patients undergoing BTK PTA.

Impact of chronic total occlusion lesion length on six-month angiographic and 2-year clinical outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Successful management of chronic total occlusion (CTO)by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is known to be associated with better clinical outcomes than failed PCI. However, whether angiographic and clinical outcomes following PCI for long CTO lesions differ from those following PCI for short CTO lesions in the drug eluting stent (DES) era remains unknown. We therefore investigated whether CTO lesion length can significantly influence6-month angiographic and 2-year clinical outcomes following successful CTO PCI. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 235 consecutive patients who underwent successful CTO intervention were allocated into either the long or short CTO group according to CTO lesion length. Six-month angiographic and 2-year clinical outcomes were then compared between the 2groups. We found that baseline clinical characteristics were generally similar between the 2 groups. Exceptions were prior PCI, which was more frequent in the long CTO group, and bifurcation lesions, which were more frequent in the short CTO group. Apart from intimal dissection, which was more frequent in the long than short CTO group, in-hospital complications were also similarly frequent between the 2groups. Furthermore, both groups had similar angiographic outcomes at 6 months and clinical outcomes at 2 years. However, the incidence of repeat PCI(predominantly target vessel revascularization),was higher in the long than short CTO group, with our multivariate analysis identifying long CTO as an important predictor of repeat PCI (odds ratio, 4.26;95% confidence interval, 1.53-11.9; p = 0.006). CONCLUSION: The safety profile, 6-month angiographic, and 2-year clinical outcomes of CTO PCI were similar between patients with long and short CTO. However, there was a higher incidence of repeat PCI in long CTO patients despite successful PCI with DESs.