Since the introduction of coronary angioplasty, restenosis has been a key problem after this procedure. In the early 1990s, intracoronary stenting was introduced to reduce complication as well as recurrence rates.
1,2 Although this technique greatly improved immediate and long-term results, restenosis still remained a challenge. In 2002, drug-eluting stents (DES) were introduced to further decrease the risk of restenosis.
3-5 However, the costs of these stents are high and cost-effectiveness of DES compared with bare metal stents remains an issue of debate.
6,7 Furthermore, it has been shown recently that DES have an increased risk of developing late stent thrombosis.
8-10 Therefore, an important field of research is to identify which patients will benefit in particular from DES and which patients will have a good outcome with a bare-metal stent. …