Sirolimus-Eluting Stents versus Standard Stents in Patients with Stenosis in a Native Coronary Artery

The sirolimus-eluting stent has shown promise in the prevention of restenosis after balloon dilation of simple coronary lesions. This clinical trial compared the sirolimus-eluting stent with a standard stent in patients with complex coronary lesions. The sirolimus-eluting stent proved to be superior in the prevention of restenosis and neointimal hyperplasia. Superior prevention of restenosis and hyperplasia with the sirolimus-eluting stent. The demonstrated clinical usefulness of the implantation of a coronary stent as the preferred method of percutaneous revascularization is due to improved procedural safety as compared with balloon angioplasty and reduced rates of restenosis. 1 – 7 But despite the use of coronary stents, the frequency of restenosis may be more than 30 percent in several subgroups of patients, including subgroups with diabetes mellitus, small coronary vessels, and long lesions. 8 – 15 During the past two decades, attempts to reduce restenosis after angioplasty with the use of locally delivered or systemic pharmaceutical agents have been largely unsuccessful. 16 – 19 Recently, sirolimus (rapamycin), a cytostatic . . .