Clinical Implications of Acute Stent Mal-Apposition in the Left Main Coronary Artery

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) has been utilized to determine acute stent mal-apposition (ASM) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the left main coronary artery (LMCA). However, the clinical consequences of this finding remain uncertain. This research aimed to evaluate the clinical implications of ASM in the LMCA using IVUS.

In this study, 408 patients who underwent successful drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation in the LMCA were evaluated. We analyzed the prevalence and characteristics of ASM and its correlation with clinical outcomes. ASM is characterized by stent struts that are not in immediate proximity to the intimal surface of the vessel wall after initial stent deployment.

The observed incidence of LMCA-ASM post-successful PCI was 26.2%, both per patient and per lesion. Lesions with LMCA-ASM had a longer stent diameter, larger stent areas, and larger lumen areas compared to those without LMCA-ASM (4.0 $$ 0.5 vs. 3.7 $$ 0.4 mm, p $$ 0.001; 9.8 $$ 2.0 vs. 9.0 $$ 1.6 $$ , p $$ 0.001; 12.3 $$ 1.9 vs. 10.1 $$ 2.1 $$ , p $$ 0.001, respectively). The mean external elastic membrane (EEM) area (odds ratio (OR): 1.418 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.295-1.556]; p $$ 0.001) emerged as an independent predictor of LMCA-ASM. During the observation period, LMCA-ASM did not display any association with device-oriented clinical endpoints (DoCE), which included cardiac death, target vessel-induced myocardial infarction (MI), stent thrombosis, and target lesion revascularization (TLR). Moreover, the DoCE incidence exhibited no significant disparity between patients with or without ASM (13.1 vs. 6.0%, p = 0.103).

While LMCA-ASM was a not uncommon finding post-PCI, it did not correlate with adverse cardiac events in the present study.