5-year outcomes following percutaneous coronary intervention with drug-eluting stent implantation versus coronary artery bypass graft for unprotected left main coronary artery lesions: The Milan experience

Objectives We sought to evaluate at 5 years the occurrence of cardiac death; cardiac death, and/or myocardial infarction (MI); cardiac death, MI, and/or stroke; target vessel revascularization; and major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stent (DES) versus coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) in unprotected left main coronary artery lesions. Background Preliminary results at 1 year showed comparable occurrence of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events in our center between PCI and CABG. Methods All consecutive patients with an unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis electively treated with DES implantation versus CABG in our center, between March 2002 and July 2004, were analyzed. A propensity analysis was performed to adjust for baseline differences between the 2 cohorts. Results We included 249 patients in the study: 107 were treated with PCI and DES implantation and 142 with CABG. At 5-year clinical follow-up, no difference was found between PCI and CABG in the occurrence of cardiac death (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 0.502; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.162 to 1.461; p = 0.24). The PCI group showed a trend toward a lower occurrence of the composite end point of cardiac death and MI (adjusted OR: 0.408; 95% CI: 0.146 to 1.061; p = 0.06). Percutaneous coronary intervention was associated with a lower rate of the composite end point of death, MI, and/or stroke (OR: 0.399; 95% CI: 0.151 to 0.989; p = 0.04). Indeed, CABG was correlated with lower target vessel revascularization (adjusted OR: 4.411; 95% CI: 1.825 to 11.371; p = 0.0004). No difference was detected in the occurrence of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (adjusted OR: 1.578; 95% CI: 0.825 to 3.054; p = 0.18). Conclusions At 5-year clinical follow-up, there was still no difference in the occurrence of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events between elective PCI with DES implantation and CABG in unprotected left main coronary artery lesions in this single-center experience. There was an advantage of PCI in the composite end point of death, MI, and/or stroke, whereas a benefit in the need for reintervention was still found in CABG.