An Angiographic Tool for Risk Prediction of Side Branch Occlusion in Coronary Bifurcation Intervention

Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to establish a scoring system to evaluate the risk of side branch (SB) occlusion in patients undergoing coronary bifurcation intervention.

Background

The risk of SB occlusion is the most important consideration affecting the selection of an optimal intervention strategy.

Methods

A total of 1,545 consecutive patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention for bifurcation lesions (1,601 lesions treated with a single stent technique or main vessel [MV] stenting first strategy) were studied. A total of 1,200 lesions were used to construct the risk model and score system, and 401 lesions were used to validate the model. A multivariable risk score (RESOLVE [Risk prEdiction of Side branch OccLusion in coronary bifurcation interVEntion]) was constructed with incremental weights attributed to each component variable according to its estimated coefficients. SB occlusion after MV stenting was defined as any decrease in Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction flow grade or absence of flow in SB after MV stenting.

Results

SB occlusion occurred in 118 (7.37%) of 1,601 bifurcation lesions. In multivariable analyses, 6 variables were independently associated with the risk of SB occlusion (model C-statistic = 0.80 [95% confidence interval: 0.75 to 0.85] with good calibration). For the 401 lesions included in the validation cohort, the RESOLVE score had a C-statistic of 0.77 (95% confidence interval: 0.69 to 0.86), with good calibration. SB occlusion rates in the validation cohort increased significantly across different risk groups, from 0.0% in the low-risk group, to 3.8% in the intermediate-risk group, and to 19.8% in the high-risk group (p < 0.001).

Conclusions

The RESOLVE score, a novel angiographic risk stratification tool, can help identify patients at risk for SB occlusion during bifurcation intervention.