PREDICTORS OF RESTENOSIS AFTER CORONARY STENT IMPLANTATION

Objectives. We sought to determine predictors of restenosis after coro nary stenting (CS) in a consecutive series of patients. Background. Al though stenting in highly selected patient groups reduces restenosis, the results of stenting in a heterogeneous patient group and the effec ts of clinical and procedural factors on stent restenosis are currentl y unclear.Methods. We analyzed the 6-month angiographic outcome of 500 lesions in 463 consecutive patients undergoing successful CS. Clinica l, qualitative and quantitative angiographic variables were correlated with restenosis assessed as both a binary and a continuous variable. Results. Restenosis, defined as the presence of >50% diameter stenosis in the dilated segment, was present in 105 (26%) of the 405 lesions,v ith angiographic follow-up. The mean late lumen loss during the follow -up period was 0.79 +/- 0.64 mm. Implantation of multiple stents (p < 0.0001) and a high acute gain (p < 0.0002) were independently associat ed with a higher late lumen loss. In contrast, the use of high inflati on pressure (p < 0.02) and Palmaz-Schatz stents (p < 0.005) was indepe ndently associated with a lower late lumen loss. When restenosis was d efined as a qualitative variable, implantation of multiple stents (p < 0.001), stenosis length (p < 0.01), small reference diameter (p < 0.0 2) and stent type other than Palmaz-Schatz (p < 0.01) were independent predictors of restenosis. None of the clinical variables tested was a ssociated with restenosis. Conclusions. Coronary stenting in an unsele cted patient group is associated with an acceptable restenosis rate. A lthough some risk factors were identified, the risk of restenosis was not related to most of the variables tested. This suggests that the su periority of CS over balloon angioplasty, in terms of restenosis, migh t also apply to subgroups of patients that were not included in the re cent randomized studies. (C) 1998 by the American College of Cardiolog y.