Utilization of drug-eluting stents in the Veterans Health Administration.
Little is known about how drug-eluting stents (DESs) are used and perform in everyday clinical practice. This report identifies factors associated with the use of DESs in the Veterans Health Administration and compares mortality and the need for coronary artery bypass graft surgery in patients who received DESs or bare metal stents. There was rapid adoption of DESs from the end of 2002 to September 2004, when 52% of percutaneous coronary interventions used DESs. Ten-day death rates in DES and bare metal stent groups were similar (0.8% vs 1.1%), as were 10-day bypass surgery rates (0.2% vs 0.4%). In summary, in a large health care system, DESs were used widely with low rates of death and bypass surgery.
Maynard
Charles
C
Department of Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Healthcare System, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. cmaynard@u.washington.edu
Lowy
Elliott
E
Wagner
Teresa
T
Sales
Anne E
AE
D000368:Aged; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods / Q000401:mortality; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D004867:Equipment Design; D004869:Equipment Safety; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011336:Probability; D011859:Radiography; D018570:Risk Assessment; D015607:Stents / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs