Comparison of Long-Term Clinical Outcomes After Drug-Eluting Stent Implantation in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease with and Without Prior Cerebral Infarction

Objective: To compare the clinical and angiographic outcomes after implantation of drug-eluting stents (DESs) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) with or without prior cerebral infarction.

Materials And Methods: Ninety-eight consecutive patients (130 lesions) who underwent successful coronary DES implantation were prospectively classified into two groups: those with a clinical history of symptomatic cerebral infarction (cerebral infarction group, 49 patients, 69 lesions) and those without a clinical history of symptomatic cerebral infarction (noncerebral infarction group, 49 patients, 61 lesions). The primary endpoint was defined as death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and cerebrovascular events.

Results: The Kaplan-Meier method was used to create a primary endpoint curves to determine the time-dependent cumulative primary endpoint-free rate, which were compared using the log-rank test. The incidence of primary endpoints was higher in the cerebral infarction group than in the noncerebral infarction group (p = 0.0075). The Cox proportional hazards regression model for primary endpoint identified prior cerebral infarction (p = 0.0331, hazard ratio = 2.827) and patients with peripheral artery disease (p = 0.0271, hazard ratio = 2.757) as explanatory factors.

Conclusion: The results showed that clinical outcomes were poorer in patients with CAD who had prior cerebral infarctions than in those who did not have infarction.