Background
Percutaneous coronary intervention of calcified lesions was associated with worse outcomes in the era of bare-
metal and first-generation
drug-eluting stents. Data on
percutaneous coronary intervention of calcified lesions with newer-generation
drug-eluting stents are scarce. Therefore, we investigated the impact of lesion calcification on clinical outcomes in patients undergoing
percutaneous coronary intervention with a bioresorbable-
polymer sirolimus-eluting
stent or a durable-
polymer everolimus-eluting
stent. Methods and Results Patients (n=2361) from BIOFLOW II, IV, and V trials were categorized into moderate/severe versus none/mild lesion calcification by a core laboratory. End points were target-lesion failure (TLF) (
cardiac death, target-vessel
myocardial infarction, or target-lesion revascularization) and probable/definite
stent thrombosis at 2 years. The agreement in calcification assessment between the operator and the core laboratory was weak (weighted κ, 0.23). Patients with moderate/severe calcification (n=303; 16%) had higher TLF (13.5% versus 8.4%; P=0.003) and
stent thrombosis rates (2.1% versus 0.2%; P<0.0001), whereas target-lesion revascularization was not different between the groups (5.0% versus 3.9%; P=0.302). After adjustment, calcification did not emerge as an independent predictor of TLF (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.37; 95% CI, 0.89-2.08; P=0.148) but did for target-vessel
myocardial infarction (aHR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.03-2.68; P=0.037). TLF rates were similar between bioresorbable-
polymer sirolimus-eluting
stent and durable-
polymer everolimus-eluting
stent (12.6% versus 15.4%, P=0.482) in moderate/severe calcification. In none/mild calcification, the bioresorbable-
polymer sirolimus-eluting
stent showed lower TLF (7.5% versus 10.3%, P=0.045). Conclusions With newer-generation
drug-eluting stents, moderate/severe lesion calcification was not associated with more TLF after adjustment for the higher risk of patients with coronary calcification, whereas the rate of target-vessel
myocardial infarction was higher. The bioresorbable-
polymer sirolimus-eluting
stent and durable-
polymer everolimus-eluting
stent were equally effective and safe in calcified lesions. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifiers: NCT01356888, NCT01939249, NCT02389946.