Vascular healing early after titanium-nitride-oxide-coated stent implantation assessed by optical coherence tomography.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The efficacy and safety of titanium-nitride-oxide-coated bioactive stents (BASs) were demonstrated in prior studies. In a prospective registry, we sought to explore the extent of neointimal coverage of stent struts by optical coherence tomography (OCT) at 30 days following the implantation of BASs in an unselected non-diabetic population. METHODS: We enrolled 20 consecutive nondiabetic patients who underwent BAS implantation. OCT images were obtained at 30-day follow-up. Binary stent strut coverage was defined as the number of covered struts as a percentage of all analyzed struts. RESULTS: Patients underwent OCT examination at an average of 30.5 ± 5.7 days following stent implantation. In these, 411 cross-sections were analyzed, including 3780 struts. Binary stent strut coverage was 97.2%, and the prevalence of malapposed struts was 3.2%. Mean neointimal thickness was 109.7 ± 83.6 µm. CONCLUSIONS: In the current evaluation by OCT at 30-day follow-up after BAS implantation in an unselected non-diabetic cohort, binary stent strut coverage was satisfactory and the prevalence of malapposed struts was low.