Neointimal coverage of bare-metal and sirolimus-eluting stents evaluated with optical coherence tomography

Objective: To analyse the neointimal coverage of sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) and bare-metal stent (BMS) visualised in vivo by optical coherence tomography (OCT). Methods: OCT images were obtained in 26 coronary vessels of 24 patients at 5–93 months after SES or BMS deployment. The short-term BMS group (BMS1) consisted of eight BMS in seven patients at 5–10 months of follow-up, the long-term BMS group (BMS2) consisted of six BMS in six patients at 23–93 months of follow-up, and the SES group (SES) consisted of 13 SES in 10 patients at 6–12 months of follow-up. The strut apposition, strut coverage and mean maximal and minimal neointimal thicknesses (NIT) for both BMS groups and SES were compared. Results: OCT images were acquired successfully. Significant differences between completely apposed and malapposed stent struts (p Conclusions: OCT imaging can clearly visualise stent apposition and neointimal coverage of stent struts. Incomplete strut apposition and lack of strut coverage occurred with a significantly higher frequency in SES than in BMS. These findings may explain the occurrence of late thrombosis in SES.