Pharmacological stent deployment in the left anterior descending artery: late event indicators

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of pharmacological stents in decreasing the incidence of cardiac events is not homogeneous for all lesions or patient subgroups. OBJECTIVE: 1) To evaluate the late clinical evolution of patients submitted to pharmacological stent implantation in atherosclerotic lesions of the left anterior descending artery; 2) to identify, among the clinical, angiographic and intravascular ultrasonographic characteristics, the ones predictive of cardiac event risk. METHODS: From May 2002 to August 2005, 205 patients were treated with 236 pharmacological stent implants, guided by the intravascular US (IVUS). RESULTS: After a mean follow-up period of 711 days, the rate of stent thrombosis was 0.48%, the same observed for acute myocardial infarction or revascularization surgery. The revascularization rate of the treated lesion was 7.31% and the general event rate was 10.24%. The event indicators, according to the multivariate analysis were the implant of more than one stent in the same artery, concentric lesions and the minimal intra-stent area measured by IVUS 3.88 mm² obtained in the small reference-diameter segments is an independent indicator of event-free evolution.