Objective: We investigated clinical outcomes after treatment of coronary bifurcation lesions with second generation drug eluting stents (DES).
Design: Post hoc analysis of a randomised, multicentre, non-inferiority trial.
Setting: Multicentre study.
Patients: All comers study with minimal exclusion criteria.
Interventions: Patients were treated with either zotarolimus or everolimus eluting stents. The patient population was divided according to treatment of bifurcation or non-bifurcation lesions and clinical outcomes were compared between groups.
Main outcomes measures: Clinical outcomes within 2-year follow-up.
Results: A total of 2265 patients were included in the present analysis. Two-year follow-up data were available in 2223 patients: 1838 patients in the non-bifurcation group and 385 patients in the bifurcation group. At 2-year follow-up the bifurcation and the non-bifurcation lesion groups showed no significant differences in terms of cardiac death (2.3 vs 2.1, p=0.273), target lesion failure (9.7% vs 13.8%, p=0.255), major adverse cardiac events (11.5% vs 15.1%, p=0.305), target lesion revascularisation (4.7% vs 6.0%, p=0.569), and definite or probable stent thrombosis (1.6% vs 1.8%, p=0.419).
Conclusions: The use of second generation DES for the treatment of coronary bifurcation lesions was associated with similar long term mortality and clinical outcomes compared with non-bifurcation lesions.