LATE CORONARY-ARTERY STENOSIS REGRESSION WITHIN THE GIANTURCO-ROUBIN INTRACORONARY STENT

The late angiographic outcome of the Gianturco-Roubin intracoronary st ent has not been well defined, To investigate serial changes within th e stent, we studied 23 patients (15 men and 8 women median age 63) who angiographic follow-up (> 1 year) after undergoing Gianturco-Roubin s tenting for angioplasty-associated acute or threatened native coronary artery closure, Coronary angiography before and after stenting, at 6- month follow-up, and at late return was analyzed with quantitative cor onary angiography. The median time from stent deployment to late angio graphic follow-up was 27 months, As expected, stenting significantly i ncreased the median minimal lumen diameter (MLD) acutely from 1.0 to 2 .46 mm, Median percent diameter stenosis decreased from 66% to 18%, Al though at 6 months there was a significant loss of the acute gain (med ian MLD decreased from 2.46 to 1.9 mm), with a corresponding increase in percent stenosis from 18% to 31%, fate angiography demonstrated les ion regression, median MLD increasing from 1.9 to 2.15 mm (p = 0.004), and percent stenosis decreasing from 31% to 21% (p = 0.0026), No pati ent had a significant decline in minimal lesion diameter, and 5 patien ts had a >50% increase in MLD at late follow-up, Linear regression ana lysis of 6-month MLD and late lumen gain suggested that lesions with t he greatest regression were those with the lowest lumen diameters at 6 -month angiography. Late angiographic analysis demonstrated significan t lesion regression within the Gianturco-Roubin stent, which was somet imes dramatic, In suggesting that coronary arteriography at 6 months m ay underestimate the late angiographic benefit of intracoronary stenti ng, these data have important clinical implications, and imply that pa tients with a stable clinical course and angiographic stent restenosis may often be followed rather than routinely redilated.