BACKGROUND: The restenosis risk of patient populations treated with coronary stent implantation is not well studied. This information has a potential impact on the decision of incorporating a selective strategy of drug-eluting stent implantation by the public health system. Our objective was to evaluate the restenosis risk of a population of patients (pts) treated with bare-metal stents. METHODS: Observational study with 4,482 pts treated with 5,336 stents, between January 2000 and December 2007. The restenosis risk was assessed according to a previous validated risk score. Points in the score ranged from 0 to 5 according to diabetes mellitus (1 point), reference vessel diameter (< 3 mm = 2 points, 3-3.5 mm = 1, and > 3.5 mm = 0), and the lesion length (> 20 mm = 2 points, 10-20 mm = 1, and < 10 mm = 0). RESULTS: The mean age was 60.6 ± 10.6 years of age, and 32% were female. The mean reference vessel diameter was 3.10 mm ± 0.51mm, the lesion length was 13.2 mm ± 5.9 mm, and 20% of the pts were diabetics. The distribution of pts according to points in the risk score was the following: score 0 = 4% of the pts; score 1 = 22%; 2 = 34%; 3 = 29%; 4 = 9%; and score 5 = 1% of the pts. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of pts presented low or intermediate restenosis risk. The adoption of a selective strategy of drug-eluting stent implantation only in those at higher restenosis risk would represent its use in no more than 20% of the procedures.
Stents; Coronary restenosis; Angioplasty
