One-Year Results of Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffolds for Coronary Chronic Total Occlusions

The potential of bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS) technology has been demonstrated in first-in-man studies with up to 5-year follow-up. This study sought to investigate the 1-year outcomes of the BVS, for the treatment of chronic total occlusions (CTOs), using various imaging techniques. Thirty-five true CTO lesions treated with BVS were included in this prospective study. Scaffolds were deployed after mandatory predilation and intravascular ultrasound analysis. Optical coherence tomography was performed after BVS implantation and at 10 to 12 months. Multislice computed tomography was performed at baseline and at 6 to 8 months. Mean patient age was 61 ± 10 years. The most frequent vessel treated was the right coronary artery (46%). Lesions were classified as intermediate (49%) or difficult/very difficult (26%) according to the Japanese CTO complexity score. Predilation was performed in 100% of lesions, using cutting balloons in 71% of these. The total scaffold length implanted per lesion was of 52 ± 23 mm. All scaffolds were delivered and deployed successfully. Postdilation was undertaken in 63%. By multislice computed tomography at 6 months, we observed 2 cases of asymptomatic scaffold restenosis, subsequently confirmed by angiography. At 12 months, no scaffold thrombosis or major adverse cardiac events were reported. The optical coherence tomography at follow-up showed that 94% of struts were well apposed and covered (5% of uncovered struts and 1% of nonapposed struts), and only 0.6% of struts were nonapposed and uncovered. In conclusion, 1-year results suggest that BVS for CTO is associated with excellent clinical and imaging outcomes. Accurate percutaneous coronary BVS technique might have enabled these promising results.