Multivessel coronary stenting versus bypass surgery in patients with multivessel coronary artery disease and normal left ventricular function: Immediate and 2-year long-term follow-up

Background: Compared with coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG), the clinical benefits of intracoronary stenting have not been established in patients with multivessel coronary lesions. Methods and Results: To compare the clinical outcomes of intracoronary stenting with that of CABG, we reviewed the outcomes of patients with multivessel coronary artery disease from an observational database. Two hundred consecutive patients with multivessel coronary artery disease and normal left ventricular function were evaluated. In 200 patients, multivessel stenting was performed in 100 and CABG was performed in 100. Complete revascularization was achieved in 95% in the CABG group and in 69% in the stent group (P < .05). The duration of total hospital stay and coronary care unit admission was significantly shorter in the stent group (P < .05). The long-term survival was similar between the 2 groups. There were no significant differences of cardiac events between the 2 groups except for the recurrence of angina (19% in stenting vs 8% in CABG, P = .03) and target lesion revascularization (19% vs 2%, P < .01) in the patients with stents. Conclusions: In selected patients with multivessel coronary artery disease and normal left ventricular function, intracoronary stenting may offer an effective alternative to coronary bypass surgery.