Impact of the first-generation drug-eluting stent implantation on periprocedural myocardial injury in patients with stable angina pectoris

Background and purpose: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with a drug-eluting stent (DES) is one of the standard treatments for patients with stable angina pectoris (AP). In spite of a notable effect in preventing restenosis after PCI, DES cannot improve the mortality of patients compared to a bare-metal stent (BMS). On the other hand, periprocedural myocardial injury (PMI) is related to poor prognosis in patients undergoing PCI. We compared DES to BMS in the incidence of PMI in patients with stable AP. Methods and subjects: We enrolled 265 consecutive patients with AP undergoing successful stent implantation. A blood sample was obtained from all patients immediately before and 24. h after PCI. PMI was defined as an increase in creatine kinase-myocardial band isozyme fraction (CK-MB) greater than the upper limit of reference range 24. h after PCI. During the study period, sirolimus- and paclitaxel-eluting stents were used as DES. The strategy of PCI including the type of stent to implant was left to the discretion of the operator. Results: Patients were divided into two groups (DES group, n= 136 and BMS group, n= 129). The incidence of PMI was significantly higher in the DES group than in the BMS group (24% vs. 12%, p= 0.015). Use of DES remained an independent predictor of PMI on multivariate logistic regression analysis after adjustment for confounding factors (odds ratio 2.20, 95% CI, 1.07-4.51, p= 0.032). Conclusions: Implantation of the first-generation DES including sirolimus- and paclitaxel-eluting stents was associated with a higher incidence of PMI in patients with AP compared to BMS.