One hundred and seven consecutive patients undergoing PCI with angiographically normal or mild LM disease had 2- and 3-dimensional IVUS imaging. IVUS images were digitized, and 3-dimensional reconstruction was performed. Percent diameter and area stenosis by angiography were 4.8 % ± 3.5 % and 18.2 % ± 9.8 % , respectively. IVUS mean luminal area and area stenosis were 17.9 ± 5.6 mm2 and 30.2 % ± 14.7 % , respectively. Long-term follow-up was available in 102 (95 % ) patients at a median of 29 (range 8–52) months. Major adverse cardiac events, defined as death (6), myocardial infarction (4), repeat PCI (13), or CABG (16), were associated with female sex (P = .04), diabetes (P = .02), angiographic minimum lumen diameter (P = .04), and IVUS minimum (P = .01) and mean (P = .01) lumen area. Multivariate predictors of late cardiac events were diabetes (hazard ratio 2.69, P = .014) and minimum lumen area by IVUS (hazard ratio 0.59, P = .015).
Despite being angiographically silent, LM disease detected by IVUS is an independent predictor of cardiac events and may serve as a marker for such events. These data extend the spectrum of LM disease severity and its relationship to cardiac prognosis in patients undergoing PCI.