Paclitaxel-Eluting Stents Top Brachytherapy for Restenosis

“It makes sense to change coatings if a patient didn't respond to a drug-eluting stent the first time,” Dr. Shelton said in an interview.

After 1 year of follow-up, the patients who received a different type of drug coating the second time had an 18% rate of need for target lesion revascularization, compared with a 31% rate in patients who received the same type of drug coating the second time.

Also included in the series were 15 patients with 22 lesions that were treated with either balloon angioplasty, brachytherapy, or a bare-metal stent. In this group, the rate of target lesion revascularization after 1 year was 41%. The differences among the groups were not statistically significant. This was a series and not a randomized, controlled trial.

“It looks like using the opposite stent is no worse than using the same stent, and it may be better,” Dr. Shelton said.

'The study is very definitive' for proving the superiority of paclitaxel-eluting stents. DR. WAKSMAN