RESUMEN
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Currently, the drug-eluting stent (DES) has been widely used because of its excellent clinical outcome. We compared the utilization patterns and clinical outcomes between the DES and the bare metal stent (BMS) in the real world. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the stent registry at the Catholic Medical Center between January 2002 and October 2004. There were 1120 patients treated with DES (n=1837) who were compared to 910 patients who received BMS implantation (n=1238). RESULTS: Patients with de novo lesions in the DES group more frequently had multivessel disease and received a greater number of stents than those in BMS group (p<0.001). The mean diameter of inserted stents was smaller in the DES group (p<0.001). The follow-up rate for clinical and angiographic evaluations at 6 months after stenting was 91% and 65% (n=592) in the BMS group and 90% and 74% (n=829) in the DES group, respectively. The rate of major adverse cardiac events (death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or target vessel revascularization) at 6 months was 7.3% in the DES group and 17.5% in the BMS group (p<0.001). The rates of target vessel revascularization in the DES group and in the BMS group were 4.2% and 12.9%, respectively (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The patients in the DES group had longer length, smaller diameter and higher number of placed stents, compared to the BMS group. The rates of revascularization and major adverse cardiac events in the DES group were lower than those in the BMS group.