Fully biodegradable stents may avoid the potential long-term complications of metallic drug-eluting stents such as late and very late stent thrombosis. We sought to evaluate the structural changes in a bioabsorbable DES and its interaction with the coronary vessel wall over time using optical coherence tomography (OCT). We investigated 14 consecutive patients undergoing implantation of a bioabsorbable everolimus-eluting coronary stent (BVS: Abbott Laboratories, IL, USA), composed of a poly-L-lactic acid backbone, coated with a degradable polymer/everolimus matrix. OCT (LightLab Imaging, Inc., Westford, MA) was performed immediately after stent implantation, at 6 months and at 24 months follow-up. All patients tolerated OCT imaging without complications. At baseline, OCT could detect the interface between the BVS stent and other tissues or fluid, but the inside of the strut appeared black, giving a unique box appearance. After 6 months, the struts were still clearly visible; however, their optical properties had changed considerably. In patients undergoing two years follow up (n=5, full dataset will be available at time of presentation) the majority of struts was not visible anymore and all visible struts were embedded into the vessel wall with complete tissue coverage. In contrast to 6months follow-up, at 2 years no intraluminal thrombi or dissections were visible. At 2 years follow-up the majority of stent struts were not visible by OCT. All the visible struts were covered and apposed. The lumen surface was smooth without intraluminal thrombi or dissections.
TCT-564 Implications of the local hemodynamic forces on vessel wall responses following drug-eluting bioresorbable vascular scaffold implantation: an optical coherence tomography analysis
