Twelve month clinical and angiographic outcome after stenting of unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis with paclitaxel-eluting stents - results of the multicentre FRIEND registry

Aims: To evaluate the angiographic and clinical outcome of patients undergoing paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES) implantation for unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) stenosis in a multicentre, prospective registry. The overall event rate for PCI of ULMCA disease remains higher than in on-label use making additional outcome data and risk-stratification tools for the ULMCA population desirable. Methods and results: A prospective registry included all patients with a significant (>50%) stenosis in ULMCA disease. In 151 of these patients the target lesion involved the distal bifurcation in 100 patients (66%), which was treated by predominantly using a "provisional T stenting" strategy. In distal ULMCA disease group, 72% had only one stent implantation while 28% had multiple (either 2 or 3) stents implanted. At a median follow-up of 472 +/- 75 days, cardiac death occurred in 3 patients (2%) and major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) in 16 patients (10.6%). Conclusions: In the drug-eluting stent era, paclitaxel eluting stent implantation of ULMCA stenosis provided excellent immediate and mid-term results in this selected population, suggesting that it may be considered as a safe and effective alternative to CABG for selected patients with ULMCA who are treated in institutions performing large numbers of PCI procedures.