Background: To evaluate long-term clinical outcomes after treatment of complex bifurcation lesions with the AXXESS dedicated self-expanding biolimus A9-eluting bifurcation stent.
Methods: Between 2004 and 2013, 123 patients with complex bifurcation lesions were treated in a single-center with the AXXESS stent in the proximal main vessel (MV) and additional drug-eluting stents in branches when required. Median follow-up was 5 years. Primary endpoint was the rate of major adverse cardiac events (MACE). Secondary endpoints included MACE components (cardiac death, non-periprocedural clinical myocardial infarction [MI], target lesion revascularization [TLR] and definite/probable stent thrombosis [ST]) as well as all-cause death, target vessel revascularization (TVR) and non-TVR.
Results: During follow-up, 11 (8.9%) patients experienced a MACE, of whom 2 (1.6%) suffered cardiac death, 2 (1.6%) had a non-periprocedural clinical MI requiring TLR, and 7 (5.7%) underwent elective TLR. No definite/probable ST was observed. All-cause death occurred in 9 (7.3%) patients, TVR in 11 (8.9%) and non-TVR in 11 (8.9%). Patients treated for left main (LM) bifurcation lesions were more likely to experience MACE than non-LM bifurcation lesions (25% vs. 6.5%, p = 0.04).
Conclusions: Percutaneous revascularization of complex bifurcation lesions with the AXXESS stent is safe and provides excellent long-term results, especially in non-LM lesions.
Keywords: AXXESS stent; complex bifurcation lesions; dedicated stents.