Coronary artery bypass graft surgery versus drug-eluting stent implantation for high-surgical-risk patients with left main or multivessel coronary artery disease.

Objective: There are limited data comparing long-term outcomes of coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents (DES) in patients with high surgical risk. We evaluated 5-year outcomes following CABG versus PCI with DES in 598 patients with left main or multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD) and a high surgical risk [EuroSCORE (European system for cardiac operative risk evaluation) ≥ 6].

Methods: Databases were merged from the BEST, PRECOMBAT and SYNTAX trials. The primary outcome was a major adverse cardio-cerebral event (MACCE), defined as the composite of all-cause death, myocardial infarction, stroke or repeat revascularization.

Results: During 5-year follow-up, the rates of MACCE were 29.4% in the CABG group and 43.8% in the PCI group [hazard ratio (HR), 0.64; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.49 - 0.84; P  = 0.001]. The MACCE was significantly better with CABG than with PCI in patients with high and intermediate SYNTAX scores (34.9% vs 46.3%, P  = 0.039, and 29.7% vs 47.6%, P  = 0.010, respectively), but comparable between the two groups in those with low SYNTAX scores. The rates of all-cause death and stroke were similar between the two groups. However, CABG was associated with fewer myocardial infarctions (HR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.27 - 0.93; P  = 0.027) and repeat revascularizations (HR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.20 - 0.52; P  < 0.001).

Conclusions: Among high surgical risk patients with left main or multivessel CAD, CABG compared to PCI with DES was associated with a lower rate of MACCE.