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In-stent restenosis (ISR) remains a concern even in the drug-eluting stent (DES) era and carries a high risk of recurrence. Brachytherapy is being used as an alternative treatment for resistant ISR, yet the safety and efficacy of this approach has not been well studied. We analyzed the outcomes of 101 patients who underwent coronary brachytherapy for resistant DES ISR. Baseline demographic, clinical, procedural, and outcome data were collected by phone and from electronic records. Comorbidities and overt cardiovascular disease were highly prevalent. Median previous stent layers were 2 with a maximum of 5 layers. Procedural angiographic success rate was 97% and median time to discharge was 1 day after brachytherapy. The primary outcome of target vessel revascularization was 24% at 1 year, 32% at 2 years, and 42% at 3 years. The rate of nonfatal myocardial infarction was 0% at 1 year, 3.5% at 2 years, and 6% at 3 years. The rate of all-cause mortality was 8.5% at 1 year, 12% at 2 years, and 16% at 3 years. We observed only 1 case of late stent thrombosis. After multivariable adjustment, female gender (hazard ratio 2.37, 95% confidence interval 1.02 to 5.52, p = 0.04) and diffuse ISR pattern (hazard ratio 2.95, 95% confidence interval 1.21 to 7.17, p = 0.01) were independently associated with the primary outcome. In conclusion, brachytherapy is feasible for the treatment of resistant DES ISR and is associated with high immediate procedural success and reasonable efficacy in a complex patient population. This approach might be used as an alternative for these patients., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with long-term all-cause death after percutaneous coronary intervention with bare-metal stents. Regarding other outcomes, previous studies have shown conflicting results and the impact of drug-eluting stent (DES) in this population is not well known. We analyzed 4,605 patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention with bare-metal stents (33.1%) or DES (66.9%) from the Basel Stent Kosten-Effektivitats Trial-Prospective Validation Examination trials I and II. COPD patients (n = 283, 6.1%), were older and had more frequently a smoking or cardiovascular event history. At 2-year follow-up, cumulative event rates for patients with versus without COPD were the following: major adverse cardiac events (MACE: composite of cardiac death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization): 15.2% versus 8.1% (p <0.001); all-cause death: 11.7% versus 2.4% (p <0.001); cardiac death: 5.7% versus 1.2% (p <0.001); myocardial infarction: 3.5% versus 1.9% (p = 0.045); definite/probable/possible stent thrombosis: 2.5% versus 0.9% (p = 0.01); and major bleeding: 4.2% versus 2.1% (p = 0.014). After adjusting for confounders including smoking status, COPD remained an independent predictor for MACE (hazard ratio [HR] 1.80, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.31 to 2.49), all-cause death (HR 3.62, 95% CI 2.41 to 5.45), cardiac death (HR 3.12, 95% CI 1.74 to 5.60), and stent thrombosis (HR 2.39, 95% CI 1.03 to 5.54). We did not find evidence of an interaction between COPD and DES implantation (p for interaction = 0.29) for MACE. In conclusion, COPD is associated with increased 2-year rates of all-cause death, cardiac death, and stent thrombosis after stent implantation. DES use appears to be beneficial also in patients with COPD., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)