New Drug Eluting Stents safer for PCI patients

Results from the SCAAR Study, presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2011, showed that Percutaneous Coronary Intervention with "new generation" Drug Eluting Stents (DES), was associated with a 38% lower risk of clinically meaningful restenosis and a 50% lower risk of stent thrombosis compared to old generation DES. The SCAAR study evaluated the long-term outcome in all patients who underwent stent implantation with bare metal stents, "older generation" drug eluting stents, and "new generation" drug eluting stents in Sweden. Further studies are needed to discriminate which component of the new generation DES is involved in decreasing the incidence of stent thrombosis and restenosis.