Long-Term Risk for Drug-Eluting Stent Thrombosis

Incidence was 0.6% per year — even at 3 years after implantation — in a retrospective European study.

After reviewing research on drug-eluting stent (DES) thrombosis, experts from five major professional societies recommended continuation of dual antiplatelet therapy for 1 year after DES implantation (Journal Watch Cardiology Jan 31 2007). To learn more about late stent thrombosis after DES implantation, researchers retrospectively studied data from 8146 patients who received sirolimus-eluting stents (SES; 3823 patients) or paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES; 4323 patients) from mid-April 2002 through December 2005 at two academic hospitals in the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Stent thrombosis was documented angiographically in 91 patients from 0 to 30 days (early) and in 61 patients from 31 days through 3 years (late). The cumulative 3-year inci…

Reviewing Author

Beat J. Meyer, MD