Outcomes of coronary intravascular lithotripsy for the treatment of calcified nodules: a pooled analysis of the Disrupt CAD studies.

Background: Coronary intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) safely facilitates stent implantation in severely calcified lesions.

Objective: This analysis sought to determine the relative impact of IVL on acute and long-term outcomes specifically in calcified nodules (CNs).

Methods: Individual patient-level data (N=155) were pooled from the Disrupt CAD optical coherence tomography (OCT) substudies. Severely calcified lesions with and without CNs were compared by OCT for acute procedural results and for target lesion failure (TLF) at 2 years - a composite of cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction, and ischaemia-driven target lesion revascularisation.

Results: A CN was identified in 18.7% (29/155) of lesions. When comparing lesions with and without CNs, there were no significant differences in preprocedure minimal lumen area or diameter stenosis; however, the mean calcium angle and calcium volume were greater in CN lesions. Despite a higher calcium burden, the final minimal stent area (CN: 5.7 mm2 [interquartile range [IQR] 4.4, 8.3] vs non-CN: 5.7 mm2 [IQR 4.7, 7.2]; p=0.80) and stent expansion (CN: 79.3% [IQR 64.3, 87.0] vs 80.2% [IQR 68.9, 92.4]; p=0.30) were comparable between the two groups. In the CN group, the final stent area and expansion at CN sites were 7.6 mm2 (IQR 5.5, 8.5) and 89.7% (IQR 79.8, 102.5), respectively. The cumulative incidence of TLF at 2 years was 13.9% and 8.0% in the CN and non-CN groups, respectively (p=0.32).

Conclusions: Despite a greater calcium volume in CNs, IVL use was associated with comparable stent expansion and luminal gain in both CN and non-CN lesions. Further studies powered for clinical outcomes comparing different plaque modification techniques in this lesion subset are warranted.