Drug-Eluting Stents vs. Bare Metal Stents In Saphenous Vein Graft Angioplasty

VA Cooperative Studies Program #571 is designed to prospectively evaluate the efficacy of drug-eluting stents (DES) in reducing aortocoronary saphenous vein bypass graft (SVG) failure when compared to bare metal stents (BMS) in patients undergoing stenting of de novo SVG lesions.

SVGs often develop luminal stenoses that are most commonly treated with stent implantation. Approximately 60,000-100,000 percutaneous SVG interventions are performed annually in the USA. Two types of coronary stents are currently available: bare metal stents and drug eluting stents. Bare metal stents are the standard of care for the percutaneous treatment of SVG lesions, but are limited by high rates of in-stent restenosis (as high as 51% after 12 months) often leading to repeat percutaneous or surgical SVG treatments. Drug-eluting stents have been shown to significantly reduce in-stent restenosis and the need for repeat target vessel and lesion revascularization in native coronary arteries, yet their efficacy in SVGs is not well studied, with conflicting results from various small studies. The proposed Cooperative Studies Program study will be the first large prospective, randomized, multicenter, blinded clinical trial comparing DES and BMS in SVG lesions. It will provide critical knowledge to assist the cardiac interventionalist in selecting the optimum stent type for these challenging lesions.

Patients undergoing clinically-indicated stenting of de novo SVG lesions will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to DES or BMS. To ensure blinding to the type of stent used, of the patients who do not present with an acute coronary syndrome and do not require 12 months of dual antiplatelet therapy, those who receive DES will receive 11 months of clopidogrel and those who receive BMS will receive 11 months of matching placebo. After stenting, patients will be followed clinically for a minimum of one year to determine the 12-month incidence of target vessel failure (TVF, primary study endpoint). TVF will be defined as the composite of cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction and target vessel revascularization, and is the primary clinical endpoint used in all FDA-approved DES pivotal trials. Coronary angiography and intervention during follow-up will only be performed if clinically-indicated (no mandatory angiographic follow-up). Secondary endpoints include: 1) clinical outcomes other than TVF (procedural success; post-procedural myocardial infarction; post-procedural bleeding; all cause death and cardiac death; follow-up myocardial infarction; stent thrombosis; target lesion revascularization; target vessel revascularization; non-target vessel revascularization; the composite endpoint of death, myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization (patient-oriented composite endpoint according to the FDA guidance document on DES studies); the composite endpoint of cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction, and target lesion revascularization (device-oriented composite endpoint for target lesion failure); and stroke); and 2) incremental cost-effectiveness of DES relative to BMS. A tertiary endpoint is in-stent neointima proliferation as measured by intravascular ultrasonography.

Based on published studies, the investigators estimate the 12-month TVF rate in the BMS arm to be 30%. The investigators hypothesize that DES will reduce TVF to 18% (40% relative reduction). Assuming two-year accrual and one interim assessment, a total sample size of about 520 patients will be needed to detect this difference with 90% power, using a two-sided 5% significance level. Assuming an intake rate of 1 patient per month per VA Medical Center, the investigators will need 22 participating sites. However, the investigators will begin the study with 25 sites to protect against a site dropout rate of 10%.

Percutaneous treatment of SVG lesions is of particular importance to the VA system because many Veterans have undergone and continue to undergo coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Every year, approximately 12-15% of percutaneous coronary interventions performed within the VA system are performed in SVGs, at a cost of approximately $15,000-$20,000 per procedure; DES are currently used in approximately half of SVG interventions. Because of (a) the high prevalence and high cost of SVG stenting, (b) DES cost two- to three- fold more than BMS and often require prolonged ( 12 months) thienopyridine administration to prevent late stent thrombosis, and (c) DES may have increased risk for late and very late stent thrombosis, a catastrophic complication with high mortality, the proposed study will have considerable impact on the clinical practice of SVG lesion stenting, patient satisfaction, and financial burden of health care systems (both within and outside the VA), regardless of whether the results are positive (DES offer significantly superior health benefits to patients than BMS), or negative (DES do not offer significantly superior health benefits to patients than BMS). Due to decreasing profits and increasing competition, DES manufacturers are not planning to ever fund a SVG DES study. The VA system with its Cooperative Studies Program is uniquely suited to conduct the proposed study.