Clinical Question: Is there a mortality difference in nondiabetic patients with multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD) treated with coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) versus percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)?
Background: Randomized clinical trials have shown a mortality benefit of CABG over PCI with drug-eluting stents (DES) for diabetic patients. The best strategy for nondiabetics, however, has not been well established.
Study Design: Pooled individual patient data from two large randomized clinical trials.
Setting: Multicenter, multinational (Europe, United States, Asia).
Synopsis: Excluding patients with left main disease, a total of 1,275 nondiabetic patients with two- or three-vessel CAD were analyzed. After median follow-up of 61 months, the CABG group had significantly fewer deaths from any cause (hazard ratio [HR], 0.65; 95% CI, 0.43–0.98; P=0.039) as well as fewer deaths from cardiac causes (HR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.25–0.78; P=0.005) when compared to PCI with DES. The benefit was primarily seen at five-year follow-up in patients with intermediate to severe disease, with a nonsignificant difference detected in patients with less severe disease.
Despite the increasing popularity of DES, this study suggests that for nondiabetic patients with CAD, there is a mortality benefit at five years favoring CABG over PCI with DES. However, in this study stents used for PCI included both older and newer generation DES; a study using only newer DES may reduce the differences in outcomes between the groups.
Bottom Line: Five-year mortality is lower in nondiabetic patients with multivessel CAD treated with CABG compared with PCI with DES.
Citation: Chang M, Ahn JM, Lee CW, et al. Long-term mortality after coronary revascularization in nondiabetic patients with multivessel disease. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2016;68(1):29-36.
