Optical coherence tomography follow-up 18 months after titanium-nitride-oxide-coated versus everolimus-eluting stent implantation in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

Background Inadequate neointimal coverage of stent struts is associated with late stent thrombosis. Purpose To demonstrate the extent of neointimal coverage and strut malapposition in titanium-nitride-oxide-coated bioactive stents (BAS) versus everolimus-eluting stents (EES) by optical coherence tomography (OCT) performed at 18-month follow-up. Material and Methods In the BASE-ACS trial, 827 patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome were randomized to receive either BAS or EES. Forty patients (20 BAS, 20 EES) underwent OCT at 18-month follow-up for evaluation of stent strut coverage, malapposition, and neointimal hyperplasia (NIH). Primary endpoint was binary stent strut coverage (ratio of covered struts to all analyzed struts multiplied by 100). Co-primary endpoint was the percentage of malapposed struts. Results We analyzed 3465 struts in 330 cross-sections of BAS and 3327 struts in 316 cross-sections of EES. Binary stent strut coverage, based on strut-level analysis, was higher with BAS versus EES (99.5% versus 94.2%, respectively; P < 0.001), the strut-level percentage of malapposed struts was lower with BAS (0.6% versus 2.5%, respectively; P < 0.001). Yet, the mean NIH thickness was greater with BAS (237 ± 125 versus 108 ± 62 µm, respectively; P < 0.001). Conclusion In the current post-hoc analysis with OCT performed at 18 months, binary strut coverage, based on strut-level analysis, was higher with BAS versus EES; strut-level malapposed struts were fewer with BAS; yet, BAS induced thicker NIH.