THURSDAY, June 3 (HealthDay News) -- In patients with unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) stenosis and additional vascular disease, coronary stenting is probably a safe alternative to coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), according to research published in the June 8 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Young-Hak Kim, M.D., of Asan Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues stratified 2,240 patients with ULMCA stenosis by number of diseased vessels to examine the impact of the extent of coronary disease on long-term outcomes following either stenting or CABG.
The researchers found similar risks of death and major adverse events, including Q-wave myocardial infarction, death and stroke, in all subgroups for both stents and CABG regardless of the number of diseased vessels over four years. However, in those patients with two-vessel or three-vessel disease, they found that stenting was associated with a higher risk of major cardiac and cerebrovascular events than CABG.
"Stenting appears to be a safe alternative to CABG in patients having ULMCA stenosis combined with additional vascular disease. The advantage of CABG over stenting lies principally in the reduction of repeat revascularization across subgroups stratified by the number of diseased vessels," the authors write.
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