Comparative assessment of mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor-eluting stents in the treatment of coronary artery bifurcation lesions: the CASTOR-Bifurcation registry.

Drug-eluting stents (DES) have revolutionized the treatment of coronary bifurcation lesions. Among different DES types, sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) showed better outcomes than paclitaxel-eluting stents. Because novel sirolimus analogues have been implemented in DES, a prospective observational comparison was undertaken to compare major mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor-eluting stents in the treatment of bifurcation lesions according to the provisional T-stenting and small protrusion (TAP) technique. Overall, 187 patients (165 men, 65 ± 10 years) were enrolled in the study: 80 patients received a SES, whereas zotarolimus-eluting stents (ZES) were implanted in 53 patients and everolimus-eluting stents (EvES) in 62 patients. Primary end-point of the study was the 12-month incidence of target bifurcation failure (TBF) defined as occurrence of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), and target vessel revascularization (TVR) or angiographic documentation of > 50% restenosis on the main vessel or TIMI flow < 3 on the side branch. Groups were homogeneous according to main clinical and angiographic characteristics. Overall, 17 (9.1%) patients had TBF: 4 (2.1%) patients had nonfatal non-ST-segment elevation MI, 9 (4.8%) patients underwent TVR, and 6 (3.2%) patients had an angiographic restenosis. The rate of TBF was statistically different among the three groups (7.9% in SES group, 18% in ZES group, and 3.3% in EvES group, P = 0.024). Previous MI was associated with a worse outcome (P = 0.025), whereas final kissing balloon was associated with a better outcome (P = 0.045). In conclusion, in this prospective registry, significant differences between DES were found in the outcome of patients treated for coronary bifurcation lesions according to provisional TAP technique. Thus, prospective randomized trials in this field are needed.