The Absorb bioresorbable vascular scaffold in real-world practice: long-term follow-up of the AMC Single Centre Real World PCI Registry

Background: Bioresorbable scaffolds have been introduced to overcome the shortcomings of drug-eluting stents. Higher rates of device thrombosis, however, have been reported up to 3 years after implantation of the Absorb bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS). In the current article, we therefore report long-term clinical outcomes of the AMC Absorb Registry. Methods and results: In the AMC Absorb Registry, all patients who underwent a percutaneous coronary intervention with Absorb BVS implantation between 30 August 2012 and 5 August 2013 at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre—Academic Medical Centre were included. The composite endpoint of this analysis was target-vessel failure (TVF). The median follow-up of the study cohort of the AMC Absorb Registry was 1534 days. At the time of the cross-sectional data sweep the clinical status at 4 years was known in 124 of 135 patients (91.9%). At long-term follow-up, the composite endpoint of TVF had occurred in 27 patients. The 4‑year Kaplan-Meier estimate of TVF was 19.8%. At 4 years cardiac death had occurred in 4 patients (3.2%) and target-vessel myocardial infarction in 9 (6.9%) patients. Definite scaffold thrombosis occurred in 5 (3.8%) patients. We found 1 case of very late scaffold thrombosis that occurred at 911 days after device implantation in a patient who was not on dual anti-platelet therapy. Conclusion: In a patient population reflecting routine clinical practice, we found that cases of TVF continued to accrue beyond 2 years after Absorb BVS implantation.