Safety and efficacy of drug‐eluting stent for ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction in an unselected consecutive cohort

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the clinical outcome of a large cohort of patients with ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with drug‐eluting stents (DES) compared to bare metal stents (BMS). Background: Several randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that PCI with the routine use of DES is safe and effective in patients with STEMI. However as randomized trials have strict inclusion criteria, further studies in unselected patient populations are needed. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of the Mayo Clinic PCI database. A total of 552 consecutive STEMI patients who underwent a DES implantation between May 2003 and April 2006 were included in the study and compared to 557 who had BMS for STEMI earlier. No specific patient subsets were excluded. Results: Procedural success was achieved in 532 patients (96%). During initial hospitalization, 16 patients (2.9%) died and 8 (1.5%) suffered from a recurrent myocardial infarction. The median follow‐up was 23 months (IQR: 13–27 months). At 12 months post discharge, the rate of target lesion revascularization and death were 2.9% and 3.7%, respectively, and survival free of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) was 90.9%. These rates were similar to or lower than those of patients treated for STEMI with BMS prior to the availability of DES. Conclusion: DES are safe and effective in the treatment of STEMI in an unselected cohort; 90.9% of patients are free of MACE at 12 months post discharge. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.