OCT Analysis of Very Early Strut Coverage of the Synergy Stent in Non-ST Segment Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients

Early endothelialization of drug-eluting stent (DES) is a major challenge to reduce the risk of stent thrombosis and the duration of dual-antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) in high bleeding-risk patients. The aim of the present study is to evaluate very early strut coverage with optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the Synergy stent (Boston Scientific) at 1 month in non-ST segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) patients. This substudy of the EARLY trial prospectively included NSTE-ACS patients treated with the Synergy DES. OCT analysis of the Synergy stent was performed during a staged PCI of additional lesions at 1 month. The primary endpoint was the percentage of covered struts assessed with OCT at 1 month. Twenty-four patients were included, with a mean stent length of 35.9 ± 10.1 mm per patient. The rate of covered struts was 78.5% out of 3839 struts analyzed. Nineteen patients (79.2%) had at least 70% of their struts covered. The average neointimal thickness was 0.0508 ± 0.016 mm. In NSTE-ACS patients undergoing culprit percutaneous coronary intervention with the Synergy stent, the rate of covered struts at 1 month was 78.5%. This rapid coverage is in line with the results of clinical trials demonstrating the safety of short-duration DAPT in selected patients who are at high bleeding risk and treated with new-generation DES options.