Adjunctive Bare-Metal Stenting Associated With Improved Outcomes in Patients With Multivessel Disease Treated With Drug-Eluting Stents

Background: The use of both bare-metal stents (BMSs) and drug-eluting stents (DESs) in the setting of multivessel percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) continues because of cost considerations. Methods: A retrospective analysis of patients with >= 2 coronary arteries with angiographic stenoses of >= 70% severity who were treated with multivessel PCI and >= 2 stents between April 2007 and March 2011 was performed using a prospective single-centre PCI registry. Follow-up data were obtained from the Discharge Abstract Database of the Canadian Institute for Health Information and the Registered Persons Database. We performed propensity matching of the DES + BMS and DES-only groups, as well as Cox multiple regression analyses to determine the independent predictors of adverse events. Results: A total of 1299 patients (514 in the DES + BMS group and 785 in the DES group) fulfilled the study criteria. Death or repeated revascularization at 5 years occurred less frequently in the DES + BMS group than in the DES group (23.9% +/- 2.6% vs 33.1% +/- 2.4%; P = 0.01), and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) tended to be less common in the DES + BMS group (31.1% +/- 3.0% vs 36.7% +/- 2.4%; P = 0.056). Kaplan-Meier estimates revealed an adjusted benefit with the DES + BMS strategy for death (11.4 +/- 2.9 vs 14.9 +/- 2.8; P = 0.035) and for death and repeated revascularization (25.6 +/- 3.5 vs 32.4 +/- 3.4; P = 0.034). Conclusions: A DES + BMS PCI strategy is associated with a lower incidence of repeated revascularization and MACE at 5-year follow up. For patients undergoing multivessel PCI who have favourable anatomy and clinical features, a combined approach using DES and BMS appears to be a viable option for contemporary PCI practice.