Matthias E. Pfisterer, MD: From the Department of Cardiology, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland.

We compared the incidence of late clinical events after withdrawal of clopidogrel between subjects treated with drug-eluting stents (DES) and those treated with bare-metal stents. Death and myocardial infarction occurred more frequently among DES-treated subjects during the follow-up period. The results of this study indicate that there may be a penalty for the lower rate of restenosis and reinterventions after DES implantation, in particular, an increased rate of late stent thromboses.