Predictors and Periprocedural Myocardial Injury Rate of Small Side Branches Occlusion in Coronary Bifurcation Intervention

Occlusion of small side branch (SB) may result in significant adverse clinical events. We aim to characterize the predictors of small SB occlusion and incidence of periprocedural myocardial injury (PMI) in coronary bifurcation intervention. Nine hundred twenty-five consecutive patients with 949 bifurcation lesions (SB ≤ 2.0 mm) treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were studied. All clinical characteristics, coronary angiography findings, PCI procedural factors, and quantitative coronary angiographic analysis data were collected. SB occlusion after main vessel (MV) stenting was defined as no blood flow or any thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) flow grade decrease in SB after MV stenting. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify independent predictors of small SB occlusion. Creatine kinase-myocardial band activity was determined by using an immunoinhibition assay and confirmed by mass spectrometry. Incidence of PMI between no SB occlusion group and SB occlusion group was compared. SB occlusion occurred in 86 (9.1%) of 949 bifurcation lesions. Of SB occlusion, total occlusion occurred in 64 (74.4%) lesions and a decrease in TIMI flow occurred in 22 (25.6%) lesions. True bifurcation lesion, irregular plaque, predilation in SB, preprocedural SB TIMI flow grade, preprocedural diameter stenosis of distal MV, preprocedural diameter stenosis of bifurcation core, bifurcation angle, diameter ratio between MV and SB, diameter stenosis of SB before MV stenting, and MV lesion length were independent risk factors of SB occlusion. We observed a significantly higher incidence of PMI in each cutoff level in patients with SB occlusion compared with those without SB occlusion. True bifurcation lesion, irregular plaque, and 8 other predictors were independent predictors of SB occlusion. Patients with small SB occlusion had significant higher incidence of PMI.