Bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BVS) as the next revolution in interventional cardiologyTechnical advances in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) have had huge impact on the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD). Current guidelines recommend drugeluting stent (DES) implantation as the standard care in CAD patients (1). However, even the newest generation DES have intrinsic limitations, such as the persistent risk of late stent failure, delayed chronic inflammation due to the polymer or metal components of stent, and loss of physiologic vasomotor function induced by the metal cage. Recently, BVS have emerged as an innovative tool to overcome the long-term complications of DESs. By applying a temporary scaffold, BVS provides adequate radial support to seal dissection, limit acute recoil and constrictive remodeling, whilst restoring normal vascular function after absorption.To date, a number of BVS have been tested in clinical trials (2), among which, the Absorb is the most-studied BVS. After safety confirmation by cohort based studies (3,4), a series of registry studies and randomized clinical trials (RCTs) have shown promising results for the Absorb BVS, being non-inferior to the everolimus-eluting stent (EES). BVS proved to have comparable safety and effectiveness outcomes at 1-year follow up. However interventional cardiologists are not yet comfortable in applying this novel technology daily practice because of several issues. First, there are concerns of an increased rate of scaffold thrombosis (ST). This may have been caused not only by the property of the scaffold, such as its thick 150 μm strut, but also by suboptimal deployment techniques such as the lack of intravascular imaging tool use or lack of postdilatation. Second, every doctor must pay attention to and adhere to the specific protocol of BVS deployment, which may be cumbersome and thus act as a practical hurdle in daily practice. Third, the indication for BVS is limited not only by lesion complexity but also by patients' general or local complexity. The performance of BVS has not been well tested in the complex lesions such as bifurcation or calcified tortuous lesions, or in the patients with diabetes or STEMI.Regarding the unsolved issues discussed above, Kraak et al. discussed the 2-year outcomes of Absorb BVS in a PCI population reflecting daily clinical practice (5). Of the 135 patients analyzed, 8% had chronic renal failure, 26% had previous PCI and 51% initially presented as acute coronary syndrome. Also, lesions included bifurcation (15%) and calcified lesions (11%). During the 2-year follow up period, event rates were cardiac death 0.7%, MI 5.3%, definite ST 3.0% and TVF 14.4%, respectively. By stratified analysis, patients who met the ABSORB II criteria and those with a SYNTAX score lower than the median value (11.5) had a significantly lower event rate.
ST after BVS implantation