The comparative safety of bare-metal and drug-eluting intracoronary stents.
Bare-metal stents were a significant advance over percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty in the treatment of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease. However, bare-metal stents are plagued by a restenosis rate of approximately 30%. First-generation drug-eluting stents greatly reduce restenosis but are associated with a troublesome persistence of late thrombotic events. Stent thrombosis is a devastating clinical event, with high mortality rates. While the superior efficacy of drug-eluting stents is unquestioned, the relative safety of bare-metal and drug-eluting stents has been hotly debated. This article will address the safety of bare-metal and drug-eluting stents, and will describe current and future stent systems that promise to maintain current efficacy, while reducing thrombosis risk even further.
Lambert
Nathan D
ND
Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-21045, USA.
Applegate
Robert J
RJ
D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy*; D054855:Drug-Eluting Stents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004727:Endothelium / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008670:Metals / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014463:Ultrasonography
D008670:Metals; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors