Long-term outcomes of intervention for unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis - Coronary stenting vs coronary artery bypass grafting

Background: Although recent studies suggest that percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents (DES) achieves clinical outcomes comparable to coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) for unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) disease, long-term studies are rarely performed. Methods and Results: This study reviewed outcomes in 363 patients undergoing CABG (n=216), PCI with DES (n=94) or PCI with bare-metal stent (BMS) (n=53) for ULMCA stenosis between January 2000 and March 2007. The CABG group had more patients with diabetes (50.5%) and 3- or 4-vessel disease (77.3%) than the PCI group. Kaplan-Meier survival estimates showed higher TLR-free survival and revascularization-free survival in CABG group. Although cardiac-death-free survival did not significantly differ between the 3 groups, the DES group had the highest overall survival. Age (hazard ratio (HR): 1.060; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.017-1.104) and diffuseness score (HR: 1.157; 95%CI: 1.019-1.313) were significant independent risk factors for cardiac death. Conclusions: There was higher TLR in the PCI group with either DES or BMS, but cardiac death did not significantly differ between the 3 groups. Advanced age and diffuse coronary atherosclerosis may increase the risk of cardiac death following revascularization.