STACCATO (Assessment of Stent sTrut Apposition and Coverage in Coronary ArTeries with Optical coherence tomography in patients with STEMI, NSTEMI and stable/unstable angina undergoing everolimus vs. biolimus A9-eluting stent implantation): a randomised controlled trial

AIMS To compare tissue coverage in coronary lesions stented with durable fluoropolymer-coated everolimus-eluting stents (EES) vs. biodegradable polymer-coated biolimus A9-eluting stents (BES). METHODS AND RESULTS Sixty-four patients (64 lesions) with de novo coronary artery lesions were randomised to percutaneous treatment with XIENCE EES (Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, CA, USA) vs. BioMatrix BES (Biosensors, Morges, Switzerland). The primary endpoint was the percentage of uncovered struts, as assessed with OCT, at nine months. The average percentage of uncovered struts was significantly lower with EES (4.3±4.8% vs. 8.7±7.8% with BES, p=0.019). There was no difference in the average percentage of malapposed struts at baseline (6.8±6.9% vs. 6.9±7.0%, respectively, p=0.974) and at follow-up (0.1±0.3% vs. 0.6±1.3%, p=0.143). Neointimal thickness at nine months was 109±43 µm in EES vs. 64±18 µm in BES (p