Background and purpose: The long-term safety and efficacy of primary stenting using drug-eluting stents (DES) in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) are not fully understood in Japan. Therefore, we retrospectively examined the midterm clinical and angiographic outcomes in STEMI patients after primary stenting using sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) in a clinical setting through a historical comparison with those of bare-metal stents (BMS).
Methods and results: The study design was a retrospective, nonrandomized, and single-center study. The clinical outcomes for 568 consecutive patients who presented within 12 h of their first STEMI and who were treated with BMS (n = 198; 184 STEMIs from June 2003 to August 2004 and 14 STEMIs from September 2004 to May 2007) or SES (n = 370; from August 2004 to May 2007) at our medical center in Japan were retrospectively investigated in February 2010. The incidence of post-discharge events (comprising cardiac death and nonfatal recurrent MI) after SES placement (3.9%) was not significantly different from that after BMS placement (6.7%). SES was not related to the risk of post-discharge events (mean follow-up for SES, 1327 ± 415 days; BMS, 1818 ± 681 days) (hazard ratio of 0.369 at 95% CI, 0.119-1.147, p = 0.085). The incidence of definite stent thromboses after SES placement (0.54%) was not significantly higher than that after BMS placement (0%). The incidence of binary in-stent restenosis (% diameter stenosis of more than 50% at secondary angiography) after SES placement (8.3%) was significantly lower than that after BMS placement (25.7%; p < 0.001).
Conclusions: From the present historical comparison of SES and BMS, we conclude that primary stenting using SES in a clinical setting has favorable clinical and angiographic outcomes in Japanese STEMI patients.
Copyright © 2011 Japanese College of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.