Angiographic performance of everolimus‐eluting stents for the treatment of coronary in‐stent restenosis in daily practice

Objectives The present study aims to analyze the angiographic anti-restenotic performance of durable polymer everolimus-eluting stents (EES) for the treatment of in-stent restenosis (ISR) in daily practice. Background Randomized data is available supporting the use of drug-coated balloons and drug-eluting stents for the treatment of ISR; however, additional real-world data including angiographic follow-up is needed. Methods Patients who underwent EES-implantation for the treatment of drug-eluting stent ISR and attended for a 6-8 months angiographic surveillance were analyzed. Off-line assessment of the angiograms was conducted at a central quantitative coronary angiographic core laboratory. Results A total of 426 patients with ISR were treated with EES and had undergone angiographic follow-up. The mean age was 66.8 ± 9.9 years and 27.5% suffered from diabetes. A total of 459 lesions were treated. The diameter stenosis decreased from 64.3 ± 19.1% (preprocedural) to 12.0 ± 6.4% (postprocedural). At 6-8 months angiographic follow-up, the in-segment diameter stenosis was 38.3 ± 21.7% and the in-stent late luminal loss was 0.54 ± 0.74 mm in the treated area analysis. The rate of recurrent binary restenosis was 25.7%. Conclusions In the setting of ISR, the angiographic anti-restenotic efficacy of stenting with EES is comparable to that observed in randomized clinical trials and less favorable than its performance in patients undergoing stenting for de novo disease.