Drug-eluting stents in patients on long-term oral anticoagulation therapy: a mission impossible?

Outcome after coronary artery bypass surgery and percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with atrial fibrillation and oral anticoagulation

AIM

This study was planned to compare the clinical characteristics and outcome of patients on warfarin treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

METHODS

This is a retrospective analysis of 121 patients who underwent isolated CABG and 301 patients who underwent PCI.

RESULTS

PCI patients were older (mean age, 72.9 versus 69.8 years) and more often had prior cardiac surgery (15.9% versus 1.7%) and acute coronary syndrome (53.8% versus 21.5%). CABG patients more often had two- and three-vessel disease (95.0% versus 60.2%) and left main stenosis (32.2% versus 7.0%). The 30-day outcome was similar after PCI and CABG. At 3 years, PCI was associated with lower overall survival (72.0% versus 86.4%, P = 0.006), freedom from repeat revascularization (85.3% versus 98.2%, P < 0.001), freedom from myocardial infarction (83.4% versus 93.8%, P = 0.008), and freedom from major cardiovascular events (57.4% versus 78.9%, P < 0.001). Propensity score adjusted analysis showed that PCI was associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality (P = 0.016, RR 2.166, CI 1.155-4.060), myocardial infarction (P = 0.017, RR 3.161, 95% CI 1.227-8.144), repeat revascularization (P = 0.001, RR 13.152, 95% CI 2.799-61.793), and major cardiac and cerebrovascular complications (P = 0.001, RR 2.347, 95% CI 1.408-3.914). There was no difference in terms of stroke and bleeding episodes at any time point.

CONCLUSION

In clinical practice, PCI is the preferred revascularization strategy in these frail patients. Patients selected for CABG have a relatively low operative risk and better mid-term outcome in spite of warfarin treatment. The poor prognosis after PCI may mainly reflect frequent co-morbidities in this patient group.

Long-term safety of drug-eluting stents in patients on warfarin treatment

BACKGROUND

The safety of drug-eluting stents (DES) in patients on long-term warfarin treatment has been questioned due to high risk of bleeding complications during prolonged triple (aspirin, clopidogrel, and warfarin) antithrombotic therapy.

METHODS

We analysed the long-term outcome of 415 consecutive warfarin-treated patients who underwent DES (n = 191) or bare-metal (n = 224) stenting in six hospitals.

RESULTS

The mean duration of triple therapy was longer (4.2 ± 3.1 versus 2.1 ± 1.8 months; P < 0.001) in the DES group. The incidence of major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events was comparable in the DES and bare-metal groups (39.8% versus 42.4%; P = 0.59) during a median follow-up of 3.5 years. Similarly, major bleeding events occurred equally often in both study groups (14.7% versus 12.9%). Six patients in the DES group and seven patients in the bare-metal group suffered stent thrombosis (3.1% versus 3.1%). In the propensity score analyses of 101 matched pairs, the outcome was similar in the two groups.

CONCLUSION

Selective use of DES with a short triple therapy seems to be safe in patients with warfarin therapy. The prognosis of this fragile patient population is quite poor, and major bleeding events are common irrespective of stent type.