BACKGROUND: Intravascular imaging–guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) or optical coherence tomography (OCT) showed superior clinical outcomes compared with angiography-guided PCI. However, the comparative effectiveness of OCT-guided and IVUS-guided PCI regarding clinical outcomes is unknown. METHODS: In this prospective, multicenter, open-label, pragmatic trial, we randomly assigned 2008 patients with significant coronary artery lesions undergoing PCI in a 1:1 ratio to undergo either an OCT-guided or IVUS-guided PCI. The primary end point was a composite of death from cardiac causes, target vessel–related myocardial infarction, or ischemia-driven target-vessel revascularization at 1 year, which was powered for noninferiority of the OCT group compared with the IVUS group. Safety outcomes were also assessed. RESULTS: At 1 year, primary end point events occurred in 25 of 1005 patients (Kaplan-Meier estimate, 2.5%) in the OCT group and in 31 of 1003 patients (Kaplan-Meier estimate, 3.1%) in the IVUS group (absolute difference, −0.6 percentage points; upper boundary of one-sided 97.5% CI, 0.97 percentage points; P <0.001 for noninferiority). The incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy was similar (14 patients [1.4%] in the OCT group versus 15 patients [1.5%] in the IVUS group; P =0.85). The incidence of major procedural complications was lower in the OCT group than in the IVUS group (22 [2.2%] versus 37 [3.7%]; P =0.047), although imaging procedure-related complications were not observed. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with significant coronary artery lesions, OCT-guided PCI was noninferior to IVUS-guided PCI with respect to the incidence of a composite of death from cardiac causes, target vessel–related myocardial infarction, or ischemia-driven target-vessel revascularization at 1 year. The selected study population and lower-than-expected event rates should be considered in interpreting the trial. REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov ; Unique number: NCT03394079.

Background—: Ischemic postconditioning has been reported to reduce infarct size in patients with ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction. However, cardioprotective effects of postconditioning have not been demonstrated in a large-scale trial. Methods and Results—: We performed a multicenter, prospective, randomized, open-label, blinded end-point trial. A total of 700 patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction within 12 hours after symptom onset were randomly assigned to the postconditioning group or to the conventional primary PCI group in a 1:1 ratio. Postconditioning was performed immediately after restoration of coronary flow as follows: The angioplasty balloon was positioned at the culprit lesion and inflated 4 times for 1 minute with low-pressure (70%) measured at 30 minutes after PCI. Complete ST-segment resolution occurred in 40.5% of patients in the postconditioning group and 41.5% of patients in the conventional PCI group (absolute difference, −1.0%; 95% confidence interval, −8.4 to 6.4; P =0.79). The rate of myocardial blush grade of 0 or 1 and the rate of major adverse cardiac events (a composite of death, myocardial infarction, severe heart failure, or stent thrombosis) at 30 days did not differ significantly between the postconditioning group and the conventional PCI group (17.2% versus 22.4% [ P =0.20] and 4.3% versus 3.7% [ P =0.70], respectively). Conclusion—: Ischemic postconditioning did not improve myocardial reperfusion in patients with ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary PCI with current standard practice. Clinical Trial Registration—: URL: http://clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT00942500.

Background—: Despite the enhanced properties of the second-generation drug-eluting stent (DES), its association with neoatherosclerosis has not been sufficiently evaluated. Therefore, we sought to evaluate and compare neoatherosclerosis in second-generation DESs to first-generation DESs. Methods and Results—: A total of 212 DES-treated patients with >50% percent neointimal cross-sectional area stenosis were retrospectively enrolled from the Korean multicenter optical coherence tomography (OCT) registry. Within this population, 111 patients had a second-generation DES (40 zotarolimus, 36 everolimus, and 35 biolimus) and 101 patients had a first-generation (65 sirolimus and 36 paclitaxel) DES. Neoatherosclerosis on OCT was defined as neointima formation with the presence of lipids or calcification. OCT-determined neoatherosclerosis was identified in 27.4% (58/212) of all DES-treated lesions. The frequency of neoatherosclerosis increased with the stent age. Stent age was shorter in the second-generation DES group (12.4 months versus 55.4 months, P <0.001), and neoatherosclerosis was less frequently observed in that group (10.8% versus 45.5%, P 70 mg/dL of low-density cholesterol at follow-up OCT (odds ratio, 2.532; 95% confidence interval, 1.054–6.084; P =0.038), and stent age (odds ratio, 1.710; 95% confidence interval, 1.403–2.084; P <0.001) were all independent predictors for neoatherosclerosis, whereas the type of DES (first- versus second-generation) was not. Patients with neoatherosclerosis showed a higher rate of acute coronary syndrome at follow-up OCT (19.0% versus 3.9%, respectively, P =0.001). Conclusions—: The second-generation DES is not more protective against neoatherosclerosis compared with the first-generation DES.

Background: The role of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)‐guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is still unclear in patients with acute myocardial infarction acute myocardial infarction. This study aimed to evaluate the long‐term impact of IVUS‐guided PCI in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Methods and Results: Among a total of 13 104 patients with acute myocardial infarction, enrolled in the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry‐National Institutes of Health, we selected patients who underwent PCI with second‐generation drug‐eluting stent implantation. The primary outcome was the risk of target lesion failure at 3 years. Among the study population, 1887 patients (21.0%) underwent IVUS‐guidance, and 7120 patients (79.0%) underwent angiography‐guidance for second‐generation drug‐eluting stent implantation. IVUS‐guided PCI was associated with a significantly lower risk of target lesion failure at 3 years (4.8% versus 8.0%; hazard ratio [HR], 0.59; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.73; P <0.001) compared with angiography‐guided PCI. The difference was driven mainly by a lower risk of cardiac death and target vessel myocardial infarction. The results were consistent after confounder adjustment by multiple sensitivity analyses. Moreover, quartile analysis of volume of IVUS use showed that higher IVUS use was associated with a decreased risk of 3‐year target lesion failure (adjusted HR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.45 to 0.75; P <0.001 for quartile 1 versus 4; P <0.001 for trend comparison across all quartiles). Conclusions: In patients with acute myocardial infarction who underwent PCI with second‐generation drug‐eluting stent implantation, the use of IVUS guidance was associated with a significant reduction in 3‐year target lesion failure, mainly driven by hard end points, such as cardiac death and target vessel myocardial infarction.