Saphenous vein grafts disease (SVGD) is a common complication after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) and usually treated by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). In this prospective cohort study, we performed virtual histology-intravascular ultrasound to investigate whether plaque composition and morphological characteristics were associated with post-PCI major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) and slow/no-reflow in patients with SVGD. Patients (n = 90) were studied (76.7% men, mean age 64.9 ± 8.2 years and mean duration of SVG 8.0 ± 3.6 years). There were 77.8% lesions with a plaque burden of at least 70%; 18 MACE incidences accumulated in 14 patients over 12 months post-PCI and slow/no-reflow was observed in 12 patients. On adjusted multivariate analysis, lesion length (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.05; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01-1.08]); age of CABG (HR = 1.51 [95% CI: 1.11-2.05], and absolute necrotic core (NC) area (HR = 8.04 [95% CI: 1.86-34.73]) were independently associated with MACEs. Factors independently associated with slow/no-reflow post-PCI were preprocedure systolic blood pressure (odds ratio [OR] = 0.98; 95% CI: 0.96-0.99) and absolute NC area (OR = 2.47 (95% CI: 1.14-5.36). A cutoff value of absolute NC area at ≥1.1 mm2 may serve as a significant risk predictor for no-reflow after SVG-PCI. Factors associated with MACEs and the slow/no-reflow phenomenon following PCI of the SVG can be used in risk assessment of SVG.
Keywords: major adverse cardiac events; percutaneous coronary intervention; saphenous vein graft disease; virtual histology-intravascular ultrasound.