Comparison of resolute zotarolimus-eluting stents and sirolimus-eluting stents in patients with de novo long coronary artery lesions a randomized LONG-DES IV trial

Background: Procedural and clinical outcomes still remain unfavorable for patients with long coronary lesions who undergo stent-based coronary interventions. Therefore, we compared the relative efficacy and safety of resolute zotarolimus-eluting stents (R-ZES) and sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) for patients with de novo long coronary lesions. Methods and Results: This randomized, multicenter, prospective trial, called the Percutaneous Treatment of LONG Native Coronary Lesions With Drug-Eluting Stent-IV (LONG-DES IV) trial, compared long R-ZES and SES in 500 patients with long (≥25 mm) native coronary lesions. The primary end point of the trial was in-segment late luminal loss at 9-month angiographic follow-up. The baseline characteristics were not different between R-ZES and SES groups, including lesion lengths (32.4±13.5 mm versus 31.0±13.5 mm, P=0.27). At 9-month angiographic follow-up, the R-ZES was noninferior to the SES with respect to in-segment late luminal loss, the primary study end point (0.14±0.38 mm versus 0.12±0.43 mm, P for noninferiority=0.03, P for superiority=0.68). In addition, in-stent late luminal loss (0.26±0.36 mm versus 0.24±0.42 mm, P=0.78) and the rates of in-segment (5.2% versus 7.2%, P=0.44) and in-stent (4.0% versus 6.0%, P=0.41) binary restenosis were not significantly different between the 2 groups. There were no significant between-group differences in the rate of adverse clinical events (death, myocardial infarction, stent thrombosis, target-lesion revascularization, and composite outcomes). Conclusions: For patients with de novo long coronary artery disease, R-ZES implantation showed noninferior angiographic outcomes as compared with SES implantation.