title: Long-term follow-up on a large cohort of "full-metal jacket" percutaneous coronary intervention procedures.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Limited long-term data exist on patients who have undergone drug-eluting stenting of very long lesions (requiring >or=60 mm of continuous stent) in native coronary arteries ("full-metal jacket").
  
  
  RESULTS
  We examined consecutive procedures taking place between March 2002 and 2007 at 2 high-volume centers in Milan, Italy. Exclusion criteria were percutaneous coronary intervention for restenosis, percutaneous coronary intervention to a bypass graft, or percutaneous coronary intervention for acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (MI). We identified 658 full-metal jacket lesions in 617 patients. Average age of the cohort was 62.0+/-10.6; 32.8% were diabetic, 51.5% had a previous MI, and 33.4% had undergone a previous percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. Mean ejection fraction was 52.1+/-10.4%. The lesion was a chronic total occlusion in 33.0%. Median duration of clinical follow-up was 39 months (interquartile range, 28 to 50). Six-month follow-up was achieved in 97% of patients; 2-year follow-up was achieved in 91%. All-cause mortality rate was 7.3%; cardiac death rate was 3.6%. Non-procedure-related MI rates were 3.5%. Target lesion revascularization rates were 23.4%. There were 17 cases of Academic Research Consortium-defined definite or probable stent thrombosis (2.6%): 5 acute, 2 subacute, 6 late, and 4 very late. Ten of the 17 cases occurred while the patient was receiving dual antiplatelet therapy; 4 of the 17 after premature termination of 1 or both antiplatelets, and 3 of the 17 occurred while the patient was receiving single-antiplatelet therapy, after having completed the prescribed course of dual antiplatelet therapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  When very long lesions (>or=60 mm) were treated using overlapping drug-eluting stents, 23.4% required a further procedure for restenosis at 3-year follow-up. However, MI, stent thrombosis, and cardiac mortality rates were relatively low.
authors.affiliation: San Raffaele Scientific Institute and EMO-GVM Centro Cuore, Columbus Hospital, Milan, Italy. andrewsharp@doctors.net.uk
authors.forename: Andrew S P
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.forename: Azeem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Latib
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ielasi
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Larosa
authors.forename: Cosmo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Godino
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saolini
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Magni
authors.forename: Robert T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Gerber
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Montorfano
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carlino
authors.forename: Iassen
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Michev
authors.forename: Alaide
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chieffo
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Colombo
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary / Q000379:methods*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D023903:Coronary Restenosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D054855:Drug-Eluting Stents; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000453:epidemiology