[Implantation of long coronary stents. Immediate and long-term results]

There have been few clinical reports of the long term results of implantation of long coronary stents. The authors performed a retrospective study of the long term results of 213 implantations of long stents (20 mm long) in 202 patients. These results were compared with those obtained in patients implanted with short stents (< 20 mm long) during the same period (630 implantations in 530 patients). The angiographic and clinical success rates were respectively 96.5 and 95.4% in the "long stent" group compared with 97.2 and 94.9% in the "short stent" group. In the "long stent" group, at 6, 12 and 24 months (follow-up, the cumulative incidence of nex revascularisation procedures of the target lesion were 9.8, 14.3 and 20.6% respectively, whereas the cumulative incidences of major cardiac events (mortality, infarction, angina, coronary bypass surgery and angioplasty) for the same periods were 12.7, 21.1 and 40% respectively. There was no significant differences compared with the "short stent" group concerning all these events. However, after 6 months, there was a tendency for more major cardiac events and for more new revascularisation procedures of the target lesion in the "long stent" group. In multivariate analysis, the independent predictive factors for major cardiac events were: a Jeopardy score > 6 (p = 0.002), and the complex nature of the lesion (B2 or C) (p = 0.045), whereas the indépendant risk factors for a new revascularisation procedure of the target lesion were: minimal luminal diameter after the procedure, a Jeopardy score > 6, complex lesions, diabetes and the reference diameter of the stented arterial segment. The authors conclude that although the length of the stent as such is not a long term predictive factor, the complexity of the lesion and the severity of the coronary disease which are more common in the "long stent" group explain the non-significant tendency for a higher incidence of major cardiac events in this group.