Stenting strategy and imaging use in left main percutaneous coronary intervention: insights from a 15-year registry

Left main (LM) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) remains a major interventional challenge, with outcomes influenced by various patient- and procedure-related factors.

To analyze procedural characteristics and outcomes of patients who underwent LM PCI over a 15-year period in a single center.

We retrospectively analyzed data from all consecutive patients who underwent LM PCI between 2006 and 2022. Procedural details, with a focus on stenting technique, were collected. Primary outcome was all-cause mortality at 1 year.

In total 3494 patients were included. The majority (67%) presented with chronic coronary syndrome. Seventy-seven percent of all patients (n = 2690) underwent PCI by single stent (SS) strategy and 23% (n = 804) by double stent (DS) strategy. One-year mortality was significantly lower in SS cases compared to DS (3.5% vs. 5.1%, HR 0.64, 95% CI 0.43-0.96). Intravascular imaging was used in 17% of the cases but showed no significant difference in one-year mortality compared to angio-guided PCI (4.8% vs. 3.7%; HR 1.11, 95% CI 0.71-1.73).

In real-world LM PCI practice, patients for whom a provisional single-stent strategy was feasible had better outcomes than those requiring a double-stent approach.