Systemic exposure of everolimus after stent implantation: a pharmacokinetic study.

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the pharmacokinetics of the eluted everolimus by assessing systemic drug release and distribution of everolimus-eluting stents. BACKGROUND: Drugs eluted by a coronary stent might cause adverse events such as tumors, infections, or noncardiac death. The systemic exposure of the drugs is unknown because there are only limited data about pharmacokinetics of drug-eluting stents in humans. METHODS: Venous blood samples in a subset of 39 patients were drawn just before implantation of the first stent (baseline, 0-minute time point) and at 10 and 30 minutes and 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, 168, and 720 hours (30 days) after completion of implantation of the last stent. Whole blood concentrations of everolimus were determined using a sensitive validated high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry method. RESULTS: The total dose of everolimus received by the patients ranged from 53 to 588 microg. The last time point up to which whole blood concentrations could be quantified ranged per patient from 4 to 720 hours after implantation of the last stent. Across all dose levels, individual T(max) values ranged from 0.13 and 2.17 hours; individual C(max) ranged from 0.14 to 2.79 ng/mL. CONCLUSION: This study confirms the limited exposure to the systemic circulation of the eluted drug with the use of the XIENCE V Everolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent System (Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, CA). Therefore, a systemic cause of adverse events is unlikely.

One year clinical follow-up of the XIENCE V Everolimus-eluting stent system in the treatment of patients with de novo native coronary artery lesions: the SPIRIT II study.

AIMS: The SPIRIT II study randomised 300 patients in a ratio of 3:1 to receive either a XIENCE V or a TAXUS stent. The six month clinical and angiographic results have previously been reported. This paper presents the clinical follow-up of these patients to one year. METHODS AND RESULTS: As a continuation in the assessment of the safety and performance of the XIENCE V Everolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent System (EECSS) enrolled patients were requested to return for clinical follow-up one year following the procedure to assess the occurrence of ischaemia driven major adverse cardiac events (MACE).Of the 300 patients recruited at 28 sites in Europe, New Zealand and India, 223 were randomised to receive an EECSS stent and 77 a TAXUS paclitaxel eluting coronary stent system (PECSS). One-year clinical follow-up was obtained in 220 of the 223 patients in the EECSS group (98.7%) with one withdrawal prior to 180 days and two non-cardiac deaths (pulmonary malignancy and pneumonia) between six and 12 months, and in 76 of 77 (98.7%) PECSS group of patients (one patient had a missed 270-day and 1-year visit). Between six and 12 months there were no new occurrences of late stent thrombotic events in either group. There were no additional MACE events in the EECSS compared to, two, both ischaemia driven target lesion revascularisations (TLR) in the PECSS group. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical safety of the XIENCE V EECSS stent observed at six months was sustained at one year. There were no additional thrombotic or MACE events in the EECSS group. Although not a primary endpoint, there was a significant difference in MACE favouring the EECSS compared to PECSS (2.7% versus 9.2%, P=0.04).