Letter to the Editor

Long-term outcome of drug-eluting stent for coronary artery stenosis in Takayasu's arteritis

Coronary arteritis is a rare but life-threatening cause of coronary artery disease and could manifest as acute coronary syndrome in clinical scenarios. Coronary arteritis could occur in the setting of systematic vasculitis or being isolated. Most of these patients were lacking of conventional risk factors in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Diagnosis of coronary arteritis still be difficult and often be delayed. Clinicians should take in account of comprehensive factors including the evidence of muti-organ involvement (mainly by symptoms, physical examination and radiology imaging findings) and specific laboratory test results. For the treatment of coronary arteritis, systematic drug therapy (i.e., corticosteroid and immunosuppressive therapy) combined with revascularization were applied in the most cases. However, problems of frequently in-stent restenosis and recurrent myocardial infarction still needed to be solved. It is still unclear whether revascularization is efficient and safe for these patients, and the strategy to prevent restenosis and re-ischemia still needs to be studied in the future. In this study, we reviewed the specific clinical manifestations, laboratory results, imaging findings, diagnosis criteria and therapeutic strategies for patients with coronary arteritis presented as acute coronary syndrome.

Vascular surgery remains an important option in the management of Takayasu arteritis (TA). Its use is predominantly confined to the treatment of symptomatic organ ischaemia or life-threatening aneurysm formation. In most cases, this follows the failure of medical therapy to prevent arterial injury. Open surgery and endovascular approaches are used. The choice between them, at least in part, is determined by the site and nature of the lesion. Open surgery, although more invasive, offers enhanced duration of arterial patency, whereas for endovascular intervention, primary angioplasty without stenting is preferred, with stenting reserved for primary or secondary angioplasty failures. Although there is increasing interest in the role of stent grafts and tailor-made endovascular stents, long-term outcomes remain to be reported. Interventional outcomes are improved and complications reduced by therapeutic control of disease activity before and after surgery. The wider use of combined immunosuppression and the introduction of biologic therapy for refractory TA may reduce future requirements for surgical intervention.

Coronary artery involvement significantly increases mortality of patients with Takayasu arteritis (TA); however, the optimal revascularization strategy for this condition has not been established. We aimed to compare the long-term outcomes of TA patients with coronary artery involvement treated with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention with stenting (PCI).

Data from 46 TA patients with coronary artery involvement were analyzed according to their revascularization strategies. The resulting events included myocardial infarction, repeated revascularization, cardiac death, and the major adverse cardiac events (MACE), which is a combination of the former events.

The risk of MACE was significantly higher in the PCI group than in the CABG group during a median of 41.0 months follow-up (P < 0.001), especially in those who underwent revascularization at the active stage of TA (P = 0.001), whereas no difference was found between PCI and CABG groups in patients who underwent revascularization at the stable stage of TA (P = 0.138). The incidence of MACE was higher in TA patients at the active stage than those at the stable stage in all patients (P < 0.001). For patients at the active stage, the risk of MACE was significantly lower in patients with than those without usage of prednisone (P = 0.028); while no difference was found between patients who were stable not requiring prednisone and patients who were stable on prednisone (P = 0.525).

With regard to MACE, CABG is superior to PCI despite medical therapy in TA patients with coronary artery involvement. In TA patients at the stable stage, PCI is similar with CABG in prognosis. For patients at the active stage, if emergency revascularization is necessary, CABG is ideal; if not, receiving medical therapy until disease remission and then undergoing PCI may be an alternative choice of CABG.

Coronary artery involvement is not a rare presentation of Takayasu arteritis (TA) and the treatment is challenging. The optimal methods of revascularization, and prognosis of treatment have not been established.

To assess the long-term outcomes of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in TA patients.

Patients with coronary artery involved in TA who underwent either PCI or CABG were identified between February 2003 and December 2015. The primary outcome was long-term all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes were myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, and repeat revascularization.

Thirty-one patients were enrolled (PCI = 19 vs. CABG = 12). Most of them were female (25, 80.6%) and the mean age was 42.6 ± 13.8 years (16–64 years). Angina pectoris was the most common initial symptom (26 cases, 83.9%) and concomitant aortic regurgitation was present in 8 (25.8%) patients. Both groups had a low rate of corticosteroids use [4/19 (21.1%) vs. 2/12 (16.7%)]. During the median follow-up of 101 months (10–384 months), PCI group had a significantly higher incidence of restenosis [12/19(63.2%) vs. 3/12(25%)]. Two patients with severe aortic regurgitation in PCI group suffered from cardiac death during follow-up.

Coronary artery involvement should be suspected in TA patients with angina pectoris, especially young women. PCI had a very high rate of in-stent restenosis in patients without corticosteroids and CABG may be a preferred treatment option.

Takayasu's arteritis (TA) is a chronic nonspecific inflammatory disease that frequently occurs in young women. TA mainly involves the aorta and its major branches, the coronary and pulmonary arteries. About 10–30% of patients with TA have coronary artery involvement. Lesions of ostial or proximal segments of the main coronary artery are the most frequently observed sites. Accelerated atherosclerosis takes place particularly at sites of active inflammation. Revascularization procedures cannot be performed until inflammation is controlled. Coronary artery bypass grafting, especially saphenous vein graft, is preferred due to the nature of TA. Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty with drug-eluting stents may work as a bridge until inflammation is effectively controlled and surgical grafting can be applied. Bioresorbable vascular scaffold may be an alternative method of treatment in young TA patients with ostial major vessel coronary disease. TA patients should be administered appropriate immunosuppressive pharmacotherapy given the systemic nature of TA.

Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a rare nonspecific inflammatory disease of unknown cause, predominantly affecting the aorta and its main branches, coronary arteries, and pulmonary arteries of young females. It induces a variety of nonspecific inflammatory symptoms and ischemic symptoms due to stenotic lesions. Further progression of TA causes destruction of the arterial wall media, leading to aortic regurgitation and aneurysms or rupture of the involved arteries. Although serological tests specific for TA are not available, new better biomarkers are emerging such as pentraxin3 and matrix metalloproteinases. Recent advances in imaging modalities including magnetic resonance angiography, computed tomography (CT), sonography, and fluorodeoxy glucose positron emission tomography/CT (FDG-PET/CT) allow earlier and accurate diagnosis of TA. Duration between onset of the disease and diagnosis has become much shorter during the last decade. Medical treatment for TA is also changing. In addition to the traditional glucocorticoids and immunosuppressants, many new biological agents are being applied to patients with TA refractory to conventional treatment with favorable results. As for treatment for vascular complications, efficacy of endovascular treatment is still a matter of controversy because of the high rate of restenosis at an early stage after the procedure. Based on these advances, the prognosis and quality of life of TA patients have improved to a great deal. However, there are many issues that remain to be solved in the management of TA.