Three Year Follow‐up of the Sirolimus‐Eluting Stent and the Paclitaxel‐eluting Stent in Daily Practice

Background Although the efficacy and safety of Cypher and Taxus stents for particular patients and lesions had been proven by random clinical trials, their long‐term comparative effect for unselected Chinese patients in daily practice is still unknown. Methods From April 2004 to April 2005, 682 consecutive patients who were implanted with a Cypher stent (C group: n = 456, 57.3 ± 10.8 years old) or a Taxus stent (T group: n = 226, 57.2 ± 10.2 years old) in our center were analyzed. A mean 3 year clinical and 7 month angiographic follow‐up was performed. Results There was no difference in major adverse cardiac events (MACE) rates in the C and T groups (16.4% vs 21.7%; P = .113), and there was also no difference in cardiac death or myocardial infarction (MI) rates in both groups (2.6% vs 1.8%; P = .598, 3.3% vs 3.5%; P = .826 respectively), but target vessel revascularization (TVR) was higher in the T group (10.5% vs 16.4%; P = .036). There was no difference in total stent thrombosis or its components in both groups (total: 3.9% vs 3.5%; P = 1.000, early: 0.2% vs 0.9%; P = .256, late: 0.7% vs 1.3%; P = .404, and very late: 3.1% vs 1.3%; P = .201 respectively). A 7 month angiographic follow‐up indicated that both in‐stent and in‐segment restenosis rate were significantly lower in the C group (11.1% vs 21.0%; P = .034 and 12.2% vs 24.0%; P = .018), and in‐stent and in‐segment late loss were significantly smaller in the C group (0.18 ± 0.08 mm vs 0.53 ± 0.38 mm; P = .000 and 0.17 ± 0.09 mm vs 0.38 ± 0.19 mm; P = .000). Conclusion Results from this 3 year follow‐up, single‐center study showed almost the same effective and safe profile for both Cypher and Taxus stents, except for a better reducing restenosis effect in the Cypher stent. Copyright © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.