Clinical Outcomes and OCT Analysis after Culotte Stenting with 2Nd- and 3Rd-Generation Everolimus-Eluting Stents: Two-Year Follow-Up of the CELTIC Bifurcation Study.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to provide 2-year clinical outcomes for patients with Medina 1,1,1 bifurcation lesions treated with a culotte technique, comparing Synergy and Xience drug eluting stent (DES) platforms. A sub-group analysis of 9-month Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) was performed to assess stent healing.Methods: A total of 170 patients with non-left main stem Medina 1,1,1 lesions, were randomized to treatment with Synergy or Xience DES. The primary outcome was a composite of death, myocardial infarction, stroke, target vessel failure, stent thrombosis and angiographic restenosis. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of 30 bifurca-tions were carried out on OCT images taken at 9-month follow-up.Results: After 2 years, the primary outcome had occurred in 17.7% of patients in the Synergy group and 18.8% of patients in the Xience group. The non-inferiority test was met (p = 0.0055). MACCE occurred in 7.3% of all pa-tients by 2 years.OCT analysis found smaller stent and lumen areas in patients treated with Synergy stents. There was a higher proportion of malapposed struts in patients treated with Xience stents.Conclusions: The first report of the CELTIC bifurcation study demonstrated a low MACCE rate after 9 months. There was little accrual of events after this timepoint. There was no difference in clinical outcomes between the platforms tested. OCT analysis demonstrated excellent healing of both platforms.(c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.