Preserved endothelial vasomotor function after everolimus-eluting stent implantation

Aims: To compare the degree of endothelial dysfunction (ED) in patients treated with everolimus-eluting stent (EES) versus bare metal stent (BMS) implantation. Methods and results: This is an observational study. A total of 30 elective patients (15 treated with EES and 15 with BMS) were recruited. All patients underwent coronary angiography and intracoronary acetylcholine (Ach) test at different doses at six months after stent implantation. Quantitative coronary angiography analysis was performed to evaluate the changes in mean luminal diameter (MLD) of the segments distal to the distal stent edge after increasing doses of Ach. Both EES and BMS groups had similar baseline characteristics except for stent length (18.6 +/- 12.5 vs. 16.5 +/- 2.5 mm; p=0.033) and diameter (3.1 +/- 0.2 vs. 3.4 +/- 0.3 mm; p=0.007). The vasomotion test showed that EES had 3.14% of MILD decrease after Ach infusion and BMS had 2.35% of vasoconstriction (p=0.62). After adjustment for baseline characteristics, no statistical difference was observed between groups. Conclusions: In our study EES implantation was associated with a low degree of ED and had a similar vasomotion response as compared to BMS. Prospective randomised investigations are warranted to confirm these findings.