Prognosis of spontaneous coronary artery dissection treated by percutaneous coronary intervention with optical coherence tomography.

BACKGROUND: Although about half of patients with spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) face ongoing necrosis, conservative therapy is recommended due to a high complication rate in angiography-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The aim of this study was to investigate clinical outcomes of SCAD treated by optical coherence tomography (OCT)-guided PCI.

METHODS: This study consisted of consecutive 306 patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) who underwent OCT-guided PCI. Based on the culprit lesion morphology by OCT, patients were assigned to four groups: a SCAD group, a plaque rupture (PR) group, a calcified nodule (CN) group, and an undetermined etiology (UE) group. Successful PCI was defined as thrombolysis in myocardial infarction flow grade 3 in final angiography without any complications. Primary endpoint was defined as occurrence rate of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) including cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and unstable angina pectoris.

RESULTS: OCT revealed 12 SCADs, 149 PRs, 16 CNs, and 129 UEs, respectively. No significant difference was observed in the success rate of PCI (SCAD 91.7%, PR 85.2%, CN 81.2%, UE 86.8%, p=0.88), while wire repositioning was needed in 2 SCAD cases (p<0.01). The mean follow-up periods were 17.1±13.3 months. No significant difference was observed in MACE among the groups (p=0.56).

CONCLUSIONS: The clinical outcomes of OCT-guided PCI for SCAD were favorable, as well as those for other ACS etiologies. OCT-guided PCI could become a therapeutic option for SCAD compromised with ongoing necrosis.