Peristent Tissue Proliferation of Multilink Stents Is Dependent on Preprocedural Plaque Area: A Serial Intravascular Ultrasound Analysis

It is not known whether any factors are related to tissue proliferation within and surrounding stents in humans. The authors used serial intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) to evaluate the relationship between IVUS parameters and tissue proliferation within and surrounding Multilink stents. They were able to analyze preinterventional and postinterventional and follow-up IVUS studies in 33 native vessel lesions in 33 patients with stable angina pectoris. Quantitative coronary angiography and IVUS measurements were performed before and after intervention and at follow-up. IVUS imaging using an automatic transducer pullback device allowed follow- up analysis of the same lesion site. The vessel area at the lesion site increased from 17.1 ±4.5 mm2 after intervention to 18.5 ±5.9 mm2 at follow-up (p < 0.01). The in-stent tissue growth (after intervention to follow-up) in-stent plaque area (PA) was 1.6 ±1.1 mm2, and the peristent tissue growth (after intervention to follow-up) peristent PA was 0.8 ±2.3 mm2. In multivariate analysis, the preprocedural PA at the lesion site was the best predictor of the peristent tissue growth, whereas no factors predicted the in-stent tissue growth. Risk factors, clinical charac teristics, and quantitative coronary angiographic parameters showed no relation to the peristent tissue growth or the in-stent tissue growth. The peristent tissue growth was closely related to the preprocedural plaque size, while the factors that affect the in-stent tissue growth were not identified.