Does calcium burden impact culprit lesion morphology and clinical results? An ADAPT-DES IVUS substudy

Background Increasing coronary lesion calcification is thought to be associated with adverse percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and clinical outcomes. We investigated the effects of calcium burden on culprit lesion morphology and clinical events after intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided PCI in the ADAPT-DES study. Methods ADAPT-DES was a prospective, multicenter registry of 8582 consecutive patients undergoing successful PCI using DES. A pre-specified virtual histology (VH)-IVUS substudy of 638 culprit lesions (638 patients) had both pre- and post-PCI VH-IVUS. We divided lesions into tertiles according to pre-PCI percent dense calcium volume (DCV% = dense calcium/plaque volume × 100). Results Compared with low and intermediate DCV% tertiles, patients in the high DCV% tertile had the largest arc of superficial calcium, highest percentage of necrotic core volume, and smallest remodeling index; they were also more likely to have advanced lesion morphology such as attenuated plaque and VH thin-cap fibroatheromas. In the high DCV% tertile IVUS guidance was associated with a minimum stent area that was smaller than tertiles with less calcium (p = 0.01), but acceptable range, and similar stent expansion (73.8 ± 16.8% vs. 74.0 ± 19.2% vs. 72.4 ± 17.3%, p = 0.62) after more frequent use of rotational atherectomy and higher maximum inflation pressure. There was no significant association between pre-PCI DCV% and 2-year target lesion revascularization or major adverse cardiac events (cardiac death, myocardial infarction, or stent thrombosis). Conclusions Increasing coronary artery calcification burden was associated with more advanced, complex VH-IVUS lesion morphology, but not with adverse clinical outcomes, perhaps due to more aggressive PCI techniques that optimized stent expansion.