Comparative Stent Safety and Efficacy in Diabetic PCI Recipients

A meta-analysis suggests that EESs are the most effective and safest of the drug-eluting stents in an important subgroup.

Diabetes is associated with worse outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with bare-metal stents (BMSs) and with some drug-eluting stents (DESs), possibly because diabetic patients often have small vessel diameters, diffuse and rapidly progressive disease, large atherosclerotic burden, or exaggerated neointimal hyperplasia. A recent, large meta-analysis yielded sound evidence that everolimus-eluting stents (EESs) are the safest of the currently available stents in the overall population of patients undergoing PCI (JW Cardiol Apr 11 2012). However, that analysis did not address specific subgroups, and results of small studies in patients with diabetes are controversial.

Now, investigators have pooled data on diabetic patients …

Reviewing Author

Beat J. Meyer, MD

Disclosures

Leadership positions in professional societiesBern Heart Foundation (President); International Academy of Medicine, Bern, Switzerland (Director)

Beat J. Meyer, MD

Disclosures

Leadership positions in professional societiesBern Heart Foundation (President); International Academy of Medicine, Bern, Switzerland (Director)