Immediate and late clinical and angiographic outcomes after GFX coronary stenting: Is high‐pressure balloon dilatation necessary?

Background : The GFX stent is a balloon‐expandable stent made of sinusoidal element of stainless steel. The adjunct high‐pressure balloon dilatations were usually recommended in routine stenting procedure. Hypothesis : The aim of this study was to evaluate the immediate and long‐term clinical and angiographic outcomes and to investigate the necessity of high‐pressure balloon dilatation during GFX stenting. Methods : In all, 172 consecutive patients underwent single 12 or 18 mm GFX stent implantation in 188 native coronary lesions. Two types of stenting technique were used: (1) stent size of a final stent‐to‐artery ratio of 1:1 (inflation pressure > 10 atm, high‐pressure group), and (2) stent size of 0.5 mm bigger than reference vessel (inflation pressure ≤ 10 atm, low‐pressure group). The adjunct high‐pressure balloon dilatations were performed only in cases of suboptimal results. Results : The adjunct high‐pressure balloon dilatation was required in 11 of 83 lesions (13%) in the high‐pressure group and in 7 of 105 lesions (7%) in the low‐pressure group (p = 0.203). Procedural success rate was 100%. There were no significant differences of in‐hospital and long‐term clinical events between the two groups. The overall angiographic restenosis rate was 17.7%; 18.4% in the high‐pressure group and 17.1% in the low‐pressure group (p = 0.991). Conclusions : The GFX stent is a safe and effective device with a high procedural success rate and favorable late clinical outcome for treatment of native coronary artery disease. Further randomized trials may be needed to compare stenting techniques in GFX stent implantation.