Background: Encouraging results with the use of the sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) have been recently presented in several multi-center trials. In the present study, the short- and mid-term clinical outcomes of the SES in everyday clinical practice of interventional cardiology were compared with a strategy using conventional bare metal stents.
Methods: In a total of 530 consecutive patients (males 86%, mean age 61 +/- 10 years) who had been treated with a SES were compared with a control group of 398 patients (males 87%, mean age 59 +/- 11 years) treated with a bare metal stent before the use of SES. In-hospital results and clinical outcomes during follow-up (11.22 +/- 3.4 versus 11.41 +/- 3.1 months) were obtained.
Results: Patients treated with SES had more risk factors for coronary artery disease or multivessel disease compared to those with treated bare metal stent. The clinical success rate was 99.6% in the SES group and 98.5% in the bare metal stent group (p = ns), and non-Q-wave myocardial infarction (MI) occurred in 5.7% and 4.0% of patients, respectively. The incidence of death or MI during follow-up was not different (1.1% versus 1.3% and 0.8% versus 1.8%; p = ns). Percutaneous or surgical revascularization for target lesion restenosis was required in 2.1% of patients treated with SES and in 10.1% of those with bare metal stents (p < 0.001), and the event-free survival from death, cerebrovascular accident, MI or any percutaneous or surgical revascularization was 93.13% and 83.63%, respectively (p < 0.01).
Conclusions: The implantation of the SES is associated with excellent in-hospital and mid-term results, mainly because of dramatic reductions in the need for repeat revascularization, despite a higher risk factor profile and more complex lesion characteristics.