title: Meta-analysis comparing drug-eluting stents with bare metal stents.
abstract: We performed a meta-analysis of 10 randomized trials of 5,066 patients with 6 to 12 months of follow-up. The summary risk differences excluded any major differences between the 2 types of stents for death (0.12%, 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.34% to 0.58%, p = 0.60) and overall myocardial infarction (0.04%, 95% CI -0.72% to 0.81%, p = 0.91). There was a modest increase in the risk of Q-wave myocardial infarction with drug-eluting stents (0.36%, 95% CI -0.04% to 0.77%, p = 0.080) but no difference in non-Q-wave myocardial infarction (-0.26%, 95% CI -0.95% to 0.43%, p = 0.47). The trend for increased risk of Q-wave myocardial infarction was seen for paclitaxel and sirolimus stents (risk differences 0.28% and 0.58%, respectively). Drug-eluting stents also had a nonsignificant trend for higher risk of thrombosis (0.29%, 95% CI -0.08% to 0.66%, p = 0.13). We conclude that sirolimus- and paclitaxel-eluting stents are equivalent to bare-metal stents in terms of mortality and overall myocardial infarction risk for the first year of follow-up; the meta-analysis excludes with considerable confidence the presence of large, clinically relevant differences for these outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Athens Euroclinic, Athens, Greece. dkatrits@otenet.gr
authors.forename: Demosthenes G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Katritsis
authors.forename: Evangelia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Karvouni
authors.forename: John P A
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Ioannidis
mesh_terms: D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000628:therapy*; D004343:Drug Implants; D006801:Humans; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D020123:Sirolimus / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015607:Stents
chemical_list: D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible; D004343:Drug Implants; D017239:Paclitaxel; D020123:Sirolimus