Stenting strategy and follow-up results of multi-center registry in fukushima city for left main coronary artery disease: bare metal stent versus drug-eluting stent.

An appropriate treatment strategy for left main trunk (LMT) lesions is still controversial in the drug-eluting stent (DES) era. Consecutive LMT stenting cases (n = 155) between January 2008 and January 2013 in 4 hospitals in Fukushima city were retrospectively analyzed. We excluded the patients suffering from cardiogenic shock before the stenting procedure. Among those cases, 60 patients had acute coronary syndrome, and remaining 95 had stable angina pectoris. Out of 155 cases, 45 patients were treated with bare metal stents (BMSs) and 110 patients were treated with DESs. All cases were succeeded in the initial procedure. Mean stent size of BMS was 3.85 ± 0.34 mm while that of DES was 3.46 ± 0.17 mm (P<0.001). At the follow up coronary angiography (255-day on average), % stenosis of BMS group was 26.6 ± 15.0% and that of DES group was 20.4 ± 12.6% (P = 0.006). The mean observation period for clinical events was 738.8 ± 480.3 days. Major adverse cardiac events-free rates for each group were compared and no significant differences were evident between the 2 groups (11.1% vs. 19.1%, ns). The present study demonstrated that use of BMSs would be a viable option in the treatment of LMT lesions when it is possible to use a large-sized stent (>3.5 mm).