Reassessing single-stent techniques for isolated left anterior descending ostial disease: a two-year intravascular ultrasound-guided retrospective comparison of precise ostial, floating, and crossover stenting strategies.

Background/objectives: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for isolated left anterior descending (LAD) ostial lesions remains challenging, with limited comparative data on stenting strategies. We aimed to evaluate the procedural and long-term outcomes of three single-stent techniques: precise ostial stenting (POS), floating stenting (FS), and crossover stenting (CS).

Methods: In this retrospective study, 116 patients with isolated LAD ostial disease underwent intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided PCI using one of the three strategies. Baseline characteristics, procedural details, IVUS findings, and major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs) over two years were compared.

Results: Compared to POS and FS, CS resulted in larger minimal stent area at the ostium, and a higher rate of complete stent coverage (100% vs. 39.5% and 23.1%, p < 0.001). At 2-year follow-up, MACCE rates were significantly lower in the CS group (2.6%) compared to FS (13.5%) and POS (15.8%, p = 0.039), mainly due to reduced target lesion revascularization. FS showed improved coverage compared to POS, but inferior angiographic outcomes and higher event rates than CS.

Conclusions: In IVUS-guided PCI for isolated LAD ostial lesions, CS offers superior ostial coverage and clinical outcomes. FS may serve as a compromise when anatomical constraints limit crossover. These findings support a tailored strategy based on lesion characteristics and IVUS assessment.