Second Generation Drug-Eluting Stent Superior to Bare Metal

The EXAMINATION trial showed a second generation drug-eluting stent did better than a bare-metal stent, researchers said today.

In a study presented at the European Society of Cardiology meeting in London, UK, Manel Sabate, MD, of the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona in Spain said everolimus-eluting stents (EES) had lower rates of adverse effects at five years, compared to the bare metal devices.

The trial included 1,498 patients with STEMI who needed percutaneous coronary intervention. It was a multicenter, multinational prospective randomized trial.

There were 153 deaths, 62 recurrent myocardial infarctions, 209 revascularizations and 35 definite or likely stent thrombosis episodes in total (both groups).

But the EES group had fewer deaths (1.5% of patients vs. 1.6%); fewer adverse events (11.9% vs. 15.5%), and fewer cases of stent thrombosis (0.5% vs. 0.6%).

Sabate said the results “help to dispel worries that the early clinical benefits of drug-eluting stents with STEMI may vanish over time because of late hazards including stent thrombosis and repeat revascularization due to neoatherosclerosis or restenosis.”

The study was funded by Abbott Vascular.