Multicenter Registry of Real-World Patients With Severely Calcified Coronary Lesions Undergoing Orbital Atherectomy: 1-Year Outcomes.

OBJECTIVES: We report the 1-year outcomes of real-world patients with severely calcified coronary arteries who underwent orbital atherectomy.

BACKGROUND: Percutaneous coronary intervention of heavily calcified lesions is technically challenging and associated with worse clinical outcomes. Modification of severely calcified coronary lesions with orbital atherectomy facilitates stent delivery and expansion. Although we previously reported the safety of orbital atherectomy at 30 days in all comers with severely calcified coronary lesions, including patients who were excluded from the ORBIT II trial, longer-term follow-up is unknown.

METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 458 all-comer patients who underwent orbital atherectomy followed by stenting from October 2013 to December 2015 at three centers. The primary endpoint was the 1-year major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular event (MACCE) rate, defined as the composite of death, myocardial infarction, target-vessel revascularization, and stroke.

RESULTS: One-year data were available for 453/457 patients (98.9%). At 1-year follow-up, the MACCE rate was 12.6%, death rate was 4.0%, myocardial infarction rate was 1.8%, target-vessel revascularization rate was 7.5%, stroke rate was 1.3%, and stent thrombosis rate was 1.3%.

CONCLUSION: Orbital atherectomy is a valuable option for the treatment of severely calcified coronary arteries, including patients with very complex coronary anatomy and severe underlying comorbid conditions. Orbital atherectomy provided acceptable outcomes at 1 year and compared favorably to historical controls. A randomized trial with longer follow-up is needed to determine the optimal treatment strategy for patients with severely calcified coronary lesions.