NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Nov 30 - A novel bioabsorbable everolimus-eluting coronary stent (BVS) shrinks in size following implant, and the extent of recoil may be influenced by the lesion involved, Dutch and Spanish researchers report in the November 11 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
As investigator Dr. Nico Bruining told Reuters Health, "It appears that there may be a relationship between stent performance and lesion morphology."
Bruining of Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, and colleagues note that there is slightly more acute recoil with the BVS than with an everolimus-eluting metal stent, but little is known about the late mechanical behavior of the BVS.
To investigate further, the researchers followed 16 patients who had BVS implantation for a single de novo coronary artery lesion. Over six months, a total of 484 pairs of cross-sectional areas were acquired via intravascular ultrasound and analyzed.
"Intravascular ultrasound imaging data," Bruining noted, "can provide more detailed information than straightforward quantitative dimensional measurements alone."
The late absolute recoil of the BVS was 0.65 mm2, a reduction of 7.6%. However, calcified plaques resulted in values of 0.2 mm2 and 1.97%, significantly lower than those seen with fibronecrotic plaques (1.03 mm2 and 12.4%) and fibrocellular plaques (0.74 mm2 and 8.9%).
These findings, the investigators conclude, suggest that if BVS implantation is being considered, "intravascular ultrasound examination of the target lesion before stenting could be useful to predict the extent of stent recoil."
By David Douglas
J Am Coll Cardiol 2008;52:1616-1620.
Last Updated: 2008-11-28 14:40:02 -0400 (Reuters Health)
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