Optical Coherence Tomography for Drug Eluting Stent Safety

Increasing lesion complexity in percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) has warranted the use of overlapping drug-eluting stents. Whether the substantial impairment of arterial healing observed at sites of overlap in preclinical pathologic studies persists in patients undergoing PCI is unknown. Consecutive patients with long lesions in native coronary vessels requiring stents in overlap are prospectively randomized to receive multiple sirolimus-,paclitaxel polymer-or zotarolimus eluting stents versus bare metal stents. The completeness of stent struts coverage and/or late malapposition are evaluated by Optical Coherence Tomography at 6 months follow-up