Morphological differences of tissue characteristics between early, late, and very late restenosis lesions after first generation drug-eluting stent implantation: an optical coherence tomography study
Aims Restenosis of drug-eluting stents (DESs) might be different from that of bare metal stent restenosis in diverse ways including mechanisms and time course; however, these have not been fully examined. To gain insight into the mechanisms and time course of DES restenosis, we evaluated the characteristics of restenotic lesions of first generation DES using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Methods and results We compared the morphological characteristics of early in-stent restenosis (<1 year: E-ISR, n = 43), late ISR (1–3 years: L-ISR, n = 22), and very late ISR (>3 years: VL-ISR, n = 21). OCT qualitative restenotic tissue analysis included the ...
