2019 Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 19-25
Aims: The aim of this study is to assess early vascular response after cobalt-chromium everolimus-eluting stent (CoCr-EES) implantation in patients with multivessel coronary artery disease (MVD) using coronary angioscopy.
Methods and Results: A total of six patients with MVD who underwent successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) by CoCr-EES were eligible for this study. Angiography and angioscopy were performed immediately after and 3 months after PCI. Angioscopic assessment was as follows: neointimal stent coverage (NSC, grade 0–3), yellow color (YC, grade 0–3), and presence of in-stent thrombus. Immediately after PCI, NSC grade was 0 in all observed stent struts. Serial angioscopic examination showed significant increase in dominant (0.8 ± 0.4, P < 0.01), minimum (0.7 ± 0.5, P = 0.02), and maximum (1.2 ± 0.4, P < 0.01) NSC grade. There was significant increase in maximum YC (0.5 ± 0.8 to 2.0 ± 0.6, P < 0.01). Thrombus was observed in three cases at 3 months follow-up.
Conclusion: In patients with MVD, the CoCr-EES lesions were covered by neointima in a brief period of 3 months. Rapid changes in YC grade observed by serial angioscopic examination suggest that early atherosclerotic progression may occur even after the new generation drug eluting stent implantation.
