Use of sirolimus-eluting coronary stents in routine clinical practice

Restenosis has long remained the major limitation of intracoronary stenting, but several randomized trials have recently shown that the use of drug-eluting stents appear to reduce markedly the risk of recurrence following treatment of de novo lesions. To evaluate whether the results of randomized trials can be generalized to routine clinical practice, all patients receiving at least one sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) in two Swiss hospitals were entered into a prospective registry. Only target vessels with a reference diameter > 3.5 mm were excluded. Clinical follow-up was obtained after 6 months. A total of 183 patients were included. The procedural success was 97.8% and the incidence of in-hospital MACE was 2.2%. At 7 +/- 2 months, 95.6% of the patients were event-free, and target lesion revascularization was required in only three patients (1.6%). The excellent medium-term results obtained with the SES in randomized trials can be replicated in routine clinical practice. (C) 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.