Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate very long-term clinical outcomes and potential predictors after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with bare metal stents (BMS) for unprotected left main coronary artery disease (ULMCAD).
Methods and results: From March 1991 to August 2001, 151 patients who underwent PCI with BMS for ULMCAD were investigated retrospectively. The patient-oriented major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were defined as the occurrence of all-cause death, any MI, and any coronary revascularisation. The median follow-up duration was 10.5 years. The mean age was 69.9±11.5 years, and 106 patients (70.2%) were male. At 10 years, the incidences of cardiac death (CD), target lesion revascularisation (TLR) and patient-oriented MACE were 11.1%, 25.2% and 81.9%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, the pre-reference diameter of the left main trunk (LMT) was significantly associated with TLR (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] [95% confidence interval (CI)], 0.28 [0.14-0.54], p<0.001) and the SYNTAX score remained an independent predictor of patient-oriented MACE (adjusted HR [95% CI], 1.03 [1.007-1.05], p=0.009).
Conclusions: The pre-reference diameter of LMT was significantly associated with TLR, and the SYNTAX score significantly predicted the risk of patient-oriented MACE at 10 years. BMS implantation for larger size of ULMCAD with a lower SYNTAX score was feasible for up to 10 years.