Loading...
In a nonrandomized study from Italy, researchers analyzed results of stenting of the unprotected left-main coronary artery (LMCA). They compared use of drug-eluting stents (sirolimus or paclitaxel) in 85 consecutive patients from 2002 to 2004 with use of bare-metal stents in 64 consecutive patients from 1993 to 2001.
Although the drug-eluting stent recipients were younger than the bare-metal stent recipients (mean age, 63 vs. 66), the drug-stent group had notable disadvantages in the percentage of patients with diabetes (18% vs. 7%) and in baseline mean LV ejection fraction (51% vs. 57%), vessel diameter (3.3 vs. 3.7 mm), and length of stent required (24 vs. 15 mm). In the drug-eluting stent group, 88% of patients had bifurcated lesions, whi…