Death is associated to the type of drug-eluting stent in patients with left ventricular dysfunction and elevated natriuretic peptide levels

As advanced heart failure (HF) with elevated NT-proBNP is characterized by an activated coagulation system, coronary events clinically noticed as sudden or HF death may be more common after treatment with first- compared to newer-generation DES. Our study evaluates (1) if patients with left ventricular dysfunction (LVSD) who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention have a better survival with first- or newer-generation DES, and (2) if the survival benefit is predicted by NT-proBNP. Our observational study evaluated patients with LVSD who were registered in the coronary catheter laboratory database of the Medical University of Vienna. Multivariate Cox regression analyses tested an interaction in the risk of death between those with lower or elevated NT-proBNP levels and the stent-generation. The relative risk of newer- compared to first-generation DES as reference was calculated for patients with low and elevated NT-proBNP levels. In 340 patients (178 newer- and 162 first-generation DES) stent-generation and NT-proBNP were independent predictors of death. When the stent-generation*NTproBNP interaction was forced into a Cox regression model, this term independently predicted death. The relative risk of first- compared to newer-generation DES was similar in patients with lower NT-proBNP (HR 1.02, 95% CI 0.95–1.10, p = 0.560), but was higher in patients with elevated NT-proBNP (HR 1.06, 95% CI 1.01–1.10, p = 0.020). Death is associated to stent-generation. NT-proBNP is a predictor for the stent generation used: elevated levels demonstrated a higher mortality risk when using first- compared to newer-generation DES, while lower levels showed a similar risk when using either DES-generation.