NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – When adverse events were compared between patients who received single versus multiple coronary stents, there were few complications overall and only a trend toward an advantage for single-stent procedures, according to researchers from China.

Dr. Qiao Shu Bin and colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College in Beijing analyzed 2371 patients who had stents placed during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

The procedural success rate was higher than 98% no matter whether single or multiple stents were implanted, the authors report in the September Clinical Cardiology. Fewer than 1% of the procedures were associated with complications.

The unadjusted 1-year cumulative incidence of major adverse coronary events (death, acute myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization) was significantly lower in the single stenting group (5.4%) than in the multiple stenting group (7.7%).

After adjustment for propensity scores, however, there was only a trend toward a lower 1-year incidence of major adverse coronary events in the single stenting group (6.0% versus 7.3% in the multiple stenting group, P=0.09).

On multivariate analysis, prior PCI, prior coronary artery bypass graft surgery, type C lesion, ostial lesion, and “only use of drug-eluting stents” were associated with the 1-year major adverse coronary event rate.

“Our study did not show a significant benefit associated with single stenting in coronary artery disease, as compared with multiple stenting in daily practice,” the investigators conclude. Still, they warn, “the use of multiple stents in PCI should be undertaken with great caution.”

Reference:
Clin Cardiol 2009;32:E33-E39.