Angiographic late lumen loss revisited: Impact on long-term target lesion revascularization

Aim In current device trials, the values of angiographic late lumen loss (LLL) have become extremely low and the relationship between LLL and clinical endpoints has not been recently re-evaluated. The impact of LLL on target lesion revascularization (TLR) in a patient- and study-level analysis of contemporary coronary devices was investigated. Methods We performed a patient-level meta-analysis of seven randomized controlled trials including 2426 patients treated and results with first- and second-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) and a study-level meta-analysis of 40 studies including 19 199 patients treated with CE-marked DES. In the patient-level analysis, the probability regression curve showed an exponential relationship between in-stent LLL and 2-year incidence of TLR. The optimal cut-off value of LLL based on Youden’s index for 2-year TLR event was 0.50 mm. In the Cox proportional hazard model, LLL >0.50 mm was independently associated with an increased incidence of TLR up to 4 years after angiographic follow-up {adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 6.62 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 4.67–9.39], P < 0.001}. In the meta-regression analysis of the DES studies, pooled mean value of LLL was as low as 0.23 mm (95% CI 0.20–0.26), and there was a moderate correlation between the 1- and 5-year incidence of TLR and the percentage of the lesions with LLL >0.50 mm (R² = 0.44, P < 0.001 at 1 year, R² = 0.40, P < 0.001 at 5 years). Conclusion An angiographic LLL <_0.50 mm was not predictive of the incidence of TLR whereas a LLL >0.50 mm was. Low LLL in contemporary device trials may not be a sufficiently discriminating parameter for the comparative evaluation of devices.