Everolimus-eluting stent safer, more effective than paclitaxel-eluting stent

LONDON - Everolimus-eluting stents demonstrate enhanced safety and efficacy in the treatment of de novo native coronary artery lesions when compared to paclitaxel-eluting stents, scientists have discovered.

Results from the SPIRIT IV clinical trial, which were first presented at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2009 scientific symposium, were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The trial, a large-scale multi-center study of nearly 4,000 patients in the U.S., also examined the differences in performance of the two stents in patients with diabetes.

“The data published in today’s New England Journal of Medicine, and first reported at TCT, demonstrate enhanced safety and efficacy of the everolimus-eluting stent compared to the paclitaxel-eluting stent in this large-scale study without routine angiographic follow-up. The study results also suggest that minimal late loss may be achieved with drug-eluting stents without sacrificing safety,” said principal investigator Gregg W. Stone, MD, Professor of Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Director of Cardiovascular Research and Education at the Center for Interventional Vascular Therapy at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and Co-Director of the Medical Research and Education Division at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation. (ANI)