PCI for the Left Main Coronary Artery
With the availability of drug-eluting stents (DES) and the dramatic reduction in restenosis rates they have provided, the results of left main coronary artery (LMCA) stenting have certainly improved compared to preliminary experiences with bare-metal stents (BMS), which were limited by high restenosis rates and sudden deaths.1-6 Encouraging results have been reported at midterm clinical follow-up in some observational registries with elective DES implantation in the LMCA, with a 1-year mortality rate of 0% to 5%.7-12 In these registries, the need for target lesion revascularization (TLR) varied from 0% to 14%, and target vessel revascularization (TVR) varied from 0% to 19%.
