Assessment of outcome of bifurcation lesions and non-bifurcation lesions treated in the CAVEAT trial. CAVEAT investigator group.

Registry data suggests that bifurcation lesions are associated with reduced success during percutaneous revascularization. We studied 1012 CAVEAT patients to compare procedural outcomes in patients with and without bifurcation lesions whose target vessel was treated with either atherectomy or angioplasty. Bifurcation lesions have increased angiographic complexity and interventions on them are associated with lower acute procedural success rates compared to non-bifurcation lesions. Subgroup analysis suggests that atherectomy treatment of bifurcation lesions improves acute procedural success rates and lowers restenosis rates compared to angioplasty treatment of bifurcation lesions but atherectomy of bifurcation lesions is associated with higher acute complication rates than angioplasty of bifurcation lesions.