This study investigates the long-term outcomes of drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation in patients with Takayasu arteritis (TAK).
Data on 48 TAK patients and 40 age-, sex-, and severity-matched patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) receiving DES implantation and hospitalized in Fuwai Hospital from February 2004 to March 2014 were assessed. The clinical features, laboratory data, coronary angiographic findings, treatment, and followup outcomes were summarized retrospectively. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE), which include all-cause death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and nonfatal target vessel revascularization, were recorded.
TAK patients exhibited increased mean ± SD brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) compared with patients with CAD (17.0 ± 3.8 versus 13.8 ± 3.0 meters/second; P = 0.002). However, CAD patients had higher levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (2.5 ± 1.0 versus 2.3 ± 0.8 mmoles/liter; P = 0.04). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that baPWV was independently associated with the extent of CAD, assessed by the SYNTAX (Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With TAXUS and Cardiac Surgery) score (β = 0.33, P = 0.03), in TAK patients. DES implantation was deployed in 73 coronary lesions in 48 TAK patients, and restenosis occurred in 48 lesions after an average of 25.6 months (range 9.0-68.0 months) following intervention. Logistic regression analysis identified that a baPWV of 17.00 meters/second or higher (odds ratio 5.50, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 2.1-16.6, P = 0.008) may be considered as an independent predictor of DES restenosis. Moreover, the multivariate Cox proportional hazards model demonstrated that a baPWV of 17.00 meters/second or higher (hazard ratio 3.36, 95% CI 1.51-7.52, P = 0.003) was significant and may serve as an independent predictor of MACE in TAK patients who underwent DES implantation.
DES in-stent restenosis remains a challenge, affecting the long-term outcomes of patients with TAK. Measuring increased arterial stiffness through baPWV, with the addition of inflammation status monitoring during followup, would be of great clinical value to identify TAK patients with DES who have a high risk for in-stent restenosis and MACE.