[Efficacy of sirolimus-eluting stents in diabetics with complex coronary lesions]

Diabetics are at an increased risk of restenosis and adverse events after coronary stenting. Drug-eluting stents may, therefore, be useful in these patients. Our objective was to evaluate the use of sirolimus-eluting stents in diabetics with complex coronary lesions.

Between May 2002 and August 2003, we treated 231 patients with 260 complex coronary lesions using sirolimus-eluting stents. Of these patients, 56% did not have diabetes (ND), 22% had non-insulin-dependent diabetes (NIRD), and 20% had insulin-dependent diabetes (IRD). The primary clinical endpoint was target vessel failure at 1 year. The primary angiographic endpoints in the stent were late loss and binary restenosis at 6 months.

At 6 months, late loss was greater in the IRD group (0.35 [0.71] mm) than in the ND group (0,096 [0.54] mm; P =.016) or the NIRD group (0.058 [0.52] mm; P=.017), and restenosis was more frequent (IRD, 16.3%; ND, 6.3%; and NIRD 7.8%; P=.05 for linear trend). At one year, target vessel failure occurred more frequently in the IRD group (IRD, 17.4%; NIRD, 7.7%; ND, 7.7%; P=.07 for linear trend) and the rate of survival free of target vessel failure was lower in the IRD group (82.1%) compared with the ND group (92.3%, P=.06) or the NIRD group (92.3%, P=NS). The only independent predictor of restenosis and target vessel failure was female sex.

Despite IRD patients having greater late lumen loss and more frequent restenosis at six months and a trend towards a poorer clinical outcome at 1 year, no independent relationship was found between type of diabetes and clinical outcome.