Background: Published data regarding stenting small coronary arteries are still limited and controversial. The Multi-Link Pixel stent is a new, corrugated ring, stainless-steel stent specifically designed for small vessels. The feasibility, safety and efficacy of implantation of the Pixel coronary stent in vessels with reference diameter 2.5 mm were prospectively studied with a multicenter Italian registry.
Methods and results: A total of 231 patients (243 lesions) were included in the study. The risk profile of the study population was high (41% of cases were treated for unstable angina, 20% had diabetes and 52% had multivessel disease). Forty percent of lesions had unfavorable characteristics (type B2 or C) and 10% were chronic total occlusions. Successful stent deployment was achieved in all lesions. Minimal lumen diameter significantly increased from 0.71 0.32 mm to 2.32 0.40 mm and diameter stenosis decreased from 67.20 12.49% to 6.68 10.68%. The acute lumen gain was 1.58 0.25 mm. There were no major in-hospital complications and no cases of acute or subacute stent thrombosis. The rate of major adverse cardiac events was 0.4% at 14 days and 9.6% at 6 months. Target lesion revascularization was 0.4% at 14 days and 7.4% at 6 months. Most patients improved in their clinical symptoms.
Conclusion: This initial experience indicates that implantation of the Multi-Link Pixel stent appears to be safe and effective in the treatment of complex coronary lesions in small vessels and is associated with a remarkably low target vessel revascularization rate.