Left ventricular systolic function after percutaneous coronary intervention: patterns of change and prognosis according to clinical presentation of coronary artery disease

Whether there are differences in the left ventricular ejection fraction change (ΔLVEF) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and its association with long-term prognosis according to coronary artery disease (CAD) presentations is unknown. We assessed ΔLVEF after PCI and its association with 5-year mortality in various CAD presentations.

This study included 8181 patients with paired (before and 6–8 months after PCI) angiographic LVEF measurements: 4582 patients with chronic coronary disease (CCD), 1972 patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTE-ACS) and 1627 patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). ΔLVEF (LVEF at 6–8 months minus baseline LVEF) was classified as follows: decline (ΔLVEF < 0), moderate improvement (ΔLVEF > 0 to < 10%) and large improvement (ΔLVEF ≥ 10%). The primary endpoint was 5 year mortality.

In patients with CCD, NSTE-ACS and STEMI, ΔLVEF (median [25th–75th percentiles]) was 0.0% [− 3.0%; 4.0%], 1.0% [− 2.0%; 5.0%] and 3.0% [− 2.0%; 10.0%], respectively (P < 0.001). In patients with a decline, moderate improvement and large improvement of LVEF, 5-year mortality was 10.0%, 10.4% and 12.3% in patients with CCD, 10.8%, 10.7% and 18.1% in patients with NSTE-ACS and 10.6%, 8.2% and 5.2% in patients with STEMI. After adjustment, ΔLVEF was associated with 5-year mortality in patients with CCD (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 0.90, 95% confidence interval [0.83–0.97]) and STEMI (adjusted HR = 0.85 [0.75–0.95]) but not in patients with NSTE-ACS (adjusted HR = 0.97 [0.85–1.10]), with all 3 risk estimates calculated for 5% increment in the ΔLVEF.

The type of CAD presentation appears to impact both LVEF change after PCI and its association with 5-year mortality.