Outcomes associated with drug-eluting and bare-metal stents: a collaborative network meta-analysis.

This article presents a meta-analysis of outcomes associated with drug-eluting and bare-metal stents. The study sought to see if there was a difference in outcomes between the sirolimus-eluting stents, the paclitaxel-eluting stents and the bare-metal stents. The study found that mortality was similar in all three groups. In comparing sirolimus-eluting stents with bare-metal, the drug-eluting stents were associated with the lowest rate of myocardial infarction. The risk of late definite stent thrombosis was increased with the paclitaxel-eluting stents. The reduction in target lesion revascularisation was more pronounced with the sirolimus-eluting stents which leads the authors to conclude that sirolimus-eluting stents seem to be clinically better than the other two.