Direct stenting with TAXUS stents seems to be as safe and effective as with predilatation: A post hoc analysis of TAXUS II

Background and Method: Although direct coronary stentingdoes not improve angiographic outcome, it makes sense by reducing procedure times, radiation exposure and costs. Other potential advantages of direct stentingmay be a reduction of myocardial ischemia time, which could be clinically relevant in high-risk patients. With the introduction of drug-eluting stents, however, concern arose that direct stentingwould possibly damage the polymer coating and change or diminish the efficacy of the programmed drug release. Also, concerns about safety by preventing optimal appositionof single stentstruts developed. It is the purpose of this paper to retrospectively analyze the data from the TAXUS-II Trial (536 patients) regarding patients with and without direct stenting. While predilatation was recommended per protocol, direct stentingwas not forbidden: thus, direct stentingwas performed in 49 patients ( TAXUSn = 23, control n = 26). Results: In the TAXUSgroups, there was no significant difference regarding major adverse cardiac events ( MACE; 7.5% vs. 4.3%), angiographic restenosis in the analysis segment (4.8% vs. 4.3%), late loss (0.28 ± 0.36 vs. 0.33 ± 0.30 mm) or intravas