Aims: To compare the long-term outcome after percutaneous coronary intervention with 'new-generation' drug-eluting stents (n-DES) to 'older generation' DES (o-DES), and bare-metal stents (BMS) in a real-world population.
Methods and results: We evaluated 94 384 consecutive stent implantations (BMS, n = 64 631; o-DES, n = 19 202; n-DES, n = 10 551) in Sweden from November 2006 to October 2010. All cases of definite stent thrombosis (ST) and restenosis were documented in the Swedish Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty Registry (SCAAR). Older generation DES were classified as: Cypher and Cypher Select (Cordis Corporation, Miami, FL, USA), Taxus Express and Taxus Liberté (Boston Scientific Corporation), and Endeavor (Medtronic Inc.) and n-DES as: Endeavor Resolute (Medtronic Inc.), XienceV, Xience Prime (Abbott Laboratories) and Promus, Promus Element (Boston Scientific Corporation). The Cox regression analyses unadjusted and adjusted for clinical and angiographic covariates showed a statistically significant lower risk of restenosis in n-DES compared with BMS [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 0.29; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.25-0.33] and o-DES (HR 0.62; 95% CI: 0.53-0.72). A lower risk of definite ST was found in n-DES compared with BMS (HR 0.38; 95% CI: 0.28-0.52) and o-DES (HR, 0.57; 95% CI: 0.41-0.79). The risk of death was significantly lower in n-DES compared with o-DES (adjusted HR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.63-0.95) and BMS (adjusted HR: 0.55; 95% CI: 0.46-0.67).
Conclusion: Percutaneous coronary intervention with n-DES is associated with a 38% lower risk of clinically meaningful restenosis, a 43% lower risk of definite ST, and a 23% lower risk of death compared with o-DES in this observational study from a large real-world population.