Review: drug-eluting stents are more effective than bare-metal stents for reducing acute MI at 6 to 12 months after implantation.

M e t h o d s Data sources: MEDLINE and lists of conference abstracts from the European Society of Cardiology, American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (to January 2006). Study selection and assessment: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared DESs with BMSs. 25 RCTs (n = 9791, mean age range 59 to 67 y) met the selection criteria. The DESs evaluated contained sirolimus (11 RCTs), paclitaxel (7 RCTs), tacrolimus (2 RCTs), zotarolimus (1 RCT), everolimus (3 RCTs), and biolimus (1 RCT). Outcomes: Acute MI (new increase in serum creatine kinase level ≥ 2 times the upper limit of normal reference range, concomitant increase in MB fraction of enzyme, and periprocedural infarction), Q-wave MI, and non–Q-wave MI.