High Pressure Assisted Coronary Stent Implantation Accomplished Without Intravascular Ultrasound Guidance and Subsequent Anticoagulation

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of treatment with antiplatelet therapy and no anticoagulation after high pressure assisted coronary stent implantation performed without intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) guidance. BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that during IVUS-guided Palmaz-Schatz coronary stenting, it is safe to withhold anticoagulation when stent expansion has been optimized by high pressure balloon dilation. METHODS Patients that had successful coronary stenting without IVUS guidance were treated with ticlopidine, 500 mg/day, and aspirin, 325 mg/day, for 1 month and then received only aspirin, 325 mg/day, indefinitely. Patients were not treated with warfarin (Coumadin) or heparin after successful stenting. Clinical and angiographic events were assessed at 1 month. RESULTS A total of 201 intracoronary stents were implanted in 127 patients with 137 lesions. The average number of stents per lesion was 1.4 +/- 0.8, and the average number of stents per patient was 1.6 +/- 1.1. Stent deployment was performed for elective indications in 79% of procedures and for emergency indications in 21%. There were four stent thrombosis events for a per patient event rate of 3.1% and a per lesion event rate of 2.9%. CONCLUSIONS After high pressure assisted stenting performed without IVUS guidance, there was an acceptable incidence of 3.1% of stent thrombosis with the combination of short-term ticlopidine and aspirin therapy and no anticoagulation. Although the study involved only 127 patients, the results support the relative safety of stenting without IVUS guidance and with antiplatelet therapy only in comparison to historical trials on stenting performed with postprocedure anticoagulation.