Long-term comparison of drug-eluting stents and coronary artery bypass grafting for multivessel coronary revascularization: 5-year outcomes from the asan medical center-multivessel revascularization registry

Objectives We performed the long-term (5-year) follow-up of a large cohort of patients who underwent drug-eluting stent (DES) or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery for multivessel revascularization. Background Limited information is available on very long-term outcomes after multivessel DES treatment relative to CABG. Methods We evaluated 3,042 patients with multivessel disease who received DES (n = 1,547) or underwent CABG (n = 1,495) between January 2003 and December 2005, and for whom complete follow-up data were available for a median 5.6 years (interquartile range: 4.6 to 6.3 years). We compared adverse outcomes (death; a composite outcome of death, myocardial infarction, or stroke; and repeat revascularization). Results After adjustment for differences in baseline risk factors, 5-year risk of death (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.00; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.76 to 1.32, p = 0.99) and the combined risk of death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (HR: 0.97; 95% CI: 0.76 to 1.24, p = 0.81) were similar between the DES group and the CABG group. However, the rates of revascularization were significantly higher in the DES group (HR: 2.93; 95% CI: 2.20 to 3.90, p < 0.001). Similar results were obtained in comparisons of DES with CABG for high-risk clinical and anatomic subgroups with diabetes mellitus, abnormal ventricular function, age 65 years or more, and 3-vessel and left main disease. However, mortality benefit with DES implantation relative to CABG was noted in patients with 2-vessel disease (HR: 0.57; 95% CI: 0.36 to 0.92, p = 0.02). Conclusions For patients with multivessel disease, DES treatment, compared with CABG, showed similar rates of mortality and of the composite safety outcomes, but higher rates of revascularization up to 5 years.