Differences of side branch jailing between left main–left anterior descending artery stenting and left main–left circumflex artery stenting with Nobori biolimus-eluting stent

The aim of this study is to indicate differences of side branch jailing between the left main (LM)–left anterior descending artery (LAD) stenting and the LM–left circumflex artery (LCx) stenting. Thirty-one patients who underwent single-stenting using a two-link ten-crowns biolimus-eluting stent (Japanese design of BES, J-BES) and subsequent kissing balloon dilation (KBD) on an LM bifurcation with optical coherence tomography (OCT) were divided into two groups according to the stented vessel. Bifurcation angles were measured by three-dimensional (3D) quantitative coronary analysis. The jailing pattern on a side branch ostium was evaluated by stent-enhanced 3D-OCT. Incomplete stent apposition (ISA) after KBD was compared between the stented vessels. The to-be-stented angle of the LM–LCx stenting (n = 11) was significantly steeper than that of the LM–LAD stenting (n = 20) (132.6° ± 16.9° vs. 150.7° ± 10.6°, p < 0.01). The incidence of the free carina type, which has no stent links bridging from a carina, in the LM–LCx stenting was significantly higher than that in the LM–LAD stenting (90.9 vs. 45.0 %, p = 0.02). The percentage of ISA at the bifurcation segment in the LM–LCx stenting was significantly smaller than that in the LM–LAD stenting (4.4 ± 8.2 vs. 12.7 ± 9.2 %, p = 0.0003). This study showed, by higher incidence of the favorable configuration, that the LM–LCx stenting achieved a smaller percentage of ISA than the LM–LAD stenting. These insights may help guide LM bifurcation stenting with J-BES.