BACKGROUND: A local inflammatory response has been described after percutaneous coronary intervention and has been associated with neointimal hyperplasia and restenosis. Whether this inflammatory process might cause atherosclerotic progression in the same coronary artery or in the other coronary arteries is a matter of debate. OBJECTIVES: To assess a possible relation between the degree of neointimal hyperplasia and the progression of atherosclerotic plaque in the nearby stented segments. METHODS: Retrospective study in which 36 patients with 40 lesions treated with zotarolimus eluting stents were studied with intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) during the index and follow-up procedures. In-stent percent volume obstruction (%VO) and change in atheroma volume in the arterial sub-segments outside the stented segment (ΔATV) were obtained. We assessed the strength of the relationship between %VO and ΔATV by the Spearman correlation coefficient. RESULTS: %VO was 14.5% ± 14.9%. Plaque progression was observed in proximal (20.04 mm³/mm ± 58.61 mm³/mm) and distal (7.37 mm³/mm ± 25.86 mm³/mm) arterial subsegments nearby the stented segment. There was no correlation between the degree of neointimal hyperplasia and the degree of plaque progression either in the proximal (-0.015; p = 0.93), distal (-0.166; p = 0.36) or both segments (-0.026, p = 0.89). Conclusion: In this group of patients treated with zotarolimus eluting stents, the lack of correlation between the degree of neointimal hyperplasia and plaque progression suggests different inflammatory reactions behind those phenomena.
Drug-eluting stents; Coronary restenosis; Ultrasonography; Atherosclerosis
