Clinical Research
A Patient-Level Pooled Analysis Assessing the Impact of the SYNTAX (Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery) Score on 1-Year Clinical Outcomes in 6,508 Patients Enrolled in Contemporary Coronary Stent Trials

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Objectives

This study sought to assess the impact of the SYNTAX (Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery) score (SXscore) on clinical outcomes in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

Background

The SXscore has been demonstrated to have an ability to predict clinical outcomes in patients undergoing percutaneous revascularization. Current studies are limited by the relatively small number of patients in each SXscore group.

Methods

Patient-level data from 7 contemporary coronary stent trials were pooled by an independent academic research organization (Cardialysis, Rotterdam, the Netherlands). Analysis was performed on a cohort of 6,508 patients treated with drug-eluting stents and who had calculated SXscores. Clinical outcomes in terms of death, myocardial infarction (MI), repeat revascularization, and major adverse cardiac events (MACE, a composite of death, MI, and repeat revascularization) were subsequently stratified according to SXscore quartiles: SXscoreQ1 ≤8 (n = 1,702); 8 < SXscoreQ2 <15 (n = 1,528); 15 ≤ SXscoreQ3 <23 (n = 1,620); and SXscoreQ4 ≥23 (n = 1,658).

Results

One-year outcomes were available in 6,496 patients (99.8%). At 1-year follow-up, all clinical outcomes including mortality, MI, repeat revascularization, MACE, and definite and any stent thrombosis were all significantly higher in patients in the highest SXscore quartile. Similar trends were observed in a subgroup of 2,093 patients (32.2%) who presented with an ST- or non–ST-segment elevation MI. The rate of MACE among patients with an SXscore >32 and ≤32 was 24.9% and 14.0%, respectively (p < 0.001). The SXscore was identified as an independent predictor of all clinical outcomes including mortality, MACE, and stent thrombosis (p < 0.001 for all).

Conclusions

This study confirms the consistent ability of the SXscore to identify patients who are at highest risk of adverse events.

Key Words

drug-eluting stent(s)
SYNTAX score

Abbreviations and Acronyms

CABG
coronary artery bypass graft
CAD
coronary artery disease
MACE
major adverse cardiac event(s)
MI
myocardial infarction
PCI
percutaneous coronary intervention
ST
stent thrombosis
STEMI
ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction
SXscore
Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention with Taxus and Cardiac Surgery score
TVR
target vessel revascularization

Cited by (0)

Dr. Garg has received honorarium from Medtronic. Dr. Valgimigli reports research grants for lecturers and advisory boards: Iroko, Eli Lilly, Medtronic, and honoraria for lecturers and/or advisory boards: Cordis, Medtronic, Abbott, Eisai, Merck, AstraZeneca, MedCo, and Terumo. Dr. Dawkins is an employee of Boston Scientific. Dr. Windecker received research grants Abbott, Biosensors, Biotronik, Cordis, Boston Scientific, and Medtronic. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships to disclose. John Hirshfeld, Jr., MD, served as Guest Editor for this paper.