Economics of Sirolimus-Eluting Stents: Drug-Eluting Stents Have Really Arrived

Economics of sirolimus-eluting stents: drug-eluting stents have really arrived.

Since the development of coronary angioplasty in the late 1970s, there have been a series of technical advancements that have improved the outcome of the procedure. Clearly, the biggest advance was to move from balloon angioplasty to intracoronary stenting and now to drug-eluting stents (DES).1,2 These advances have been shown to reduce in-hospital events and to dramatically lower the incidence...

Randomized clinical trial comparing abluminal biodegradable polymer sirolimus-eluting stents with durable polymer sirolimus-eluting stents

BACKGROUND The biodegradable polymer drug-eluting stents (DES) were developed to improve vascular healing. However, further data and longer-term follow-up are needed to confirm safety and efficacy of these stents. This randomized clinical trial aimed to compare safety and efficacy of 2 sirolimus-eluting stents (SES): Cordimax-a novel abluminal biodegradable polymer SES and Cypher Select-a durab...

Drug-eluting stents.

Drug-eluting/biodegradable stents.

Drug-eluting stents.

In their recent systematic review, Suzanne Ligthart and associates compared analyses of the cost-effectiveness of drug-eluting stents. They found that in most studies in which an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio greater than $50 000 per quality-adjusted life-year was calculated the study authors recommended against the widespread use of drug-eluting stents. However, we believe that previous...