Drug-Eluting Stents Equal to Bare-Metal Stents in Risk of Blood Clots, Heart Attacks and Death

Patients with bare-metal stents and drug-eluting stents showed similar results, researchers announced at the American College of Cardiology this week.

The rates of stent thrombosis were close in both groups over the 15 months after stent implantation, at 2.2 percent in the bare-metal group and 1.9 percent in the drug-eluting group. The rates of heart attack were also similar, occurring in 3.2 percent of the drug-eluting stent patients and 3 percent of the bare-metal stent patients.

However, between 12 and 15 months after implantation, there was a small but statistically significant increased risk of stent thrombosis and heart attack in the drug-eluting stent group.

The researchers said mortality was similar between the two groups and a 43 percent reduction of target lesion revascularization was found in the drug-eluting group, as compared with the bare-metal group.

"While the minor risk of very late stent thrombosis and heart attack after 12 months warrants further research over an extended period of time, these results do not outweigh the benefits of drug-eluting stents at the 15-month follow up," Michael Maeng, one of the researchers, said, adding that further evaluations will reveal whether the small excess of stent thrombosis and heart attack in the 1215 month period continue to increase.