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Updated: Dec 22, 2025
Imaging In-Stent Restenosis: An Inexpensive, Reliable, and Rapid Preclinical Model
Published on: September 14, 2009
Short- and mid-term influence of drug-coated stent implantation on structural and functional vascular healing
Hiroto Tamaru1, Kenichi Fujii2, Satoru Otsuji1
1Department of Cardiology, Higashi Takarazuka Satoh Hospital, Takarazuka, Japan.
Objective:
This study investigated the effect of a drug-coated stent (DCS) that has a novel microporous abluminal surface without a polymer on 1-month and 1-year functional and morphological healing response as assessed using acetylcholine (Ach) testing and optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Background:
DCS is expected to induce favorable morphological and physiological arterial healing after its implantation.
Methods:
A total of 11 patients who underwent vascular response examinations 1-month and 1-year after the index PCI with DCS implantation were enrolled. The vascular response was evaluated by the functional response test by acetylcholine infusion, the morphological response test by OCT.
Results:
Although 94.5% of the DCS struts were covered by homogeneous smooth neointima at 1 month, the percentage of neointimal coverage increased to 98.5% at 1 year (p = .02). Conversely, the proportion of uncovered struts and malapposed struts at 1 year were 1.2 and 0.7%, respectively. Furthermore, the coronary vasomotor response to incremental doses of Ach were impaired especially in the distal segments at each period, although the responses to Ach at 10-6 mol/L in the distal segment tended to improve over time from baseline to 1 month and 1 year later (-19 ± 20%, -9 ± 17%, and -5 ± 14%, respectively; p = .27).
Conclusions:
The morphological assessment of DCS with OCT revealed a high degree of strut coverage and apposition at 4 weeks after implantation. The impaired endothelium-dependent vasomotor response tended to improve chronologically from baseline to 1 month and 1 year later.
