Sirolimus-eluting coronary stents in small vessels

Background This prospective multicenter study compared angiographic in-lesion late lumen loss in de novo native coronary artery lesions (vessel diameter range 2.25-2.75 mm, length range ≥15 to ≤30 mm) 8 months after the implantation of a sirolimus-eluting stent with that of similar vessels with the same drug-eluting stent or a bare stent of the SIRIUS study (historical controls). Methods and Results One hundred one patients (study group) were matched and compared with 323 patients receiving the bare stent (bare control group) and with 350 receiving the Cypher stent (Cypher control group) in the SIRIUS trial. Mean in-lesion late loss in the study group was lower than that in the bare control group (0.20 versus 0.76 mm, P < .0001) and not inferior to that in the Cypher control group (0.27 mm, P = .3). Adverse event rates (death and myocardial infarction) were similar between groups. At 8 months, target lesion revascularization rates were 0% in the study group, 13.2% in the bare control group (P < .001), and 4.6% in the Cypher control group (P = .03). Conclusions The Cypher Bx Velocity stent was confirmed to be superior to the bare Bx Velocity stent in small coronary vessels in terms of in-lesion late loss 8 months after implantation.