title: Relationship between stent malapposition and incomplete neointimal coverage after drug-eluting stent implantation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Using optical coherence tomography (OCT), we evaluated the relationship between malapposed and uncovered struts following implantation of drug-eluting stents (DESs).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 271 patients with 306 lesions who underwent DES implantation and follow-up OCT were included in the study. The lesions were grouped based on the presence of malapposition and then by the median value of the percentage of malapposed struts (1.3%) to produce 3 groups: lesions without malapposition (group I, n = 232) and those with percentage of malapposed struts <1.3% (group II, n = 37) or ≥1.3% (group III, n = 37). Percentages of malapposed and uncovered struts were calculated as percent ratio of malapposed or uncovered to total struts in the defined cross-sections, respectively. We compared percentage of uncovered struts in all analyzable struts and in the residual struts without malapposed segments among the 3 groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Group III showed a significantly larger percentage of uncovered struts among all the struts (group I, 3.7 ± 6.4 vs. II, 5.5 ± 5.6 vs. III, 17.6 ± 15.9%, P < 0.001) and among residual struts without malapposed segments (3.7 ± 6.4 vs. 5.2 ± 5.7 vs. 15.0 ± 14.4%, respectively, P < 0.001). There was a significant correlation between malapposed and uncovered struts in group III (r = 0.393, P = 0.016), but not in group II (r =-0.007, P = 0.965) among residual struts without malapposed segments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The percentage of uncovered DES struts was quite different depending on the presence and extent of malapposed struts.
authors.affiliation: Severance Cardiovascular Hospital, Seoul, Korea. mkhong61@yuhs.ac
authors.forename: Byeong-Keuk
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Myeong-Ki
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Dong-Ho
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Jung-Sun
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Young-Guk
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Donghoon
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Yangsoo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jang
mesh_terms: D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D054855:Drug-Eluting Stents / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019300:Medical Errors; D058426:Neointima / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015607:Stents; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome