title: Long-term follow-up after deferring angioplasty in asymptomatic patients with moderate noncritical in-stent restenosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many patients with in-stent restenosis (ISR) are angina-free, but the optimal treatment for these patients remains uncertain.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In cases with asymptomatic moderate noncritical ISR. deferral of the intervention may be safe and associated with favorable clinical outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated the long-term clinical outcome of asymptomatic patients (Group 1, n = 98) with moderate noncritical ISR (< 70% diameter stenosis) after intervention was deferred, and compared it with that of patients (Group 2, n = 655) without restenosis. After repeat angioplasty was deferred, all patients were treated medically and later underwent angioplasty only in the case of clinical recurrence.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Baseline characteristics were similar between the two groups. Clinical follow-up was available in all patients at 26.3+/-15.9 months. Twenty patients died during the follow-up: 1 in Group 1 and 19 in Group 2. Target lesion revascularization was performed in 3 patients in Group 1 and 11 patients in Group 2 during follow-up (p = NS), and new lesion revascularization in 2 patients in Group 1 and 27 patients in Group 2 (p = NS). Event-free survival rate (cardiac death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, repeat revascularization) was 86.7+/-6.1% in Group 1 and 84.8+/-2.2% in Group 2 at the end of follow-up (p = NS). Major adverse cardiac events were only associated with the presence of diabetic mellitus (hazards ratio 2.65, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.48-4.73, p<0.01). The percentage of patients receiving antianginal medication was similar between the two groups at the end of the study (p = NS).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Asymptomatic patients with moderate noncritical ISR have a good prognosis and similar clinical outcome as those without ISR, suggesting that it may be safe to defer repeat angioplasty in these patients until angina recurrence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Rhee
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D023903:Coronary Restenosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015607:Stents; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors