Drug-eluting stents safe for long-term use in angioplasty patients

WASHINGTON - Researchers have confirmed that the use of drug-eluting stents (DES) improves the long-term clinical outcome for patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), commonly known as angioplasty.

Rabin Medical Center researchers in Israel examined the benefits and long-term risks of DES by evaluating the established pattern of DES versus bare-metal stent (BMS) use in routine clinical practice.

Results showed that use of DES compared with BMS reduced the occurrence of myocardial infarction and the need for clinically driven target vessel revascularization.

Mortality was significantly lower in the DES group, showing a persistent benefit of DES over time.

Study leader Dr. Tamir Bental concludes, “The main effect of DES is reduced restenosis, which is evident in our analysis. This outcome was sustained over time and could certainly be a major factor contributing to the survival benefit of DES.”

“We suggest that a possible additional factor contributing to our results could be the pattern of use of the DES in our practice-treatment of more territories and more sites per territory, probably leading to a more complete revascularization. Another salient feature was the preferential treatment of more proximal main vessel. Therefore, treatment of proximal lesions could contribute to a better outcome,” he added.

Results of this study appear in the September issue of Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions. (ANI)