Comparison of Therapeutic Effects of Second-Generation Heart Stents Mostly Available
Comparison of Therapeutic Effects of Second-Generation Heart Stents Mostly Available
- Professor Hyo-Soo Kim's team unveils the comparative results of one-year prognoses of 5,054 patients treated with the EES and the ZES-R which are mostly used for heart stent surgery.
- This is the world's first prospective cohort study on a large scale that analyzes therapeutic effects of two stents on the spot. 
There are recent findings of the first large-scale cohort study that compares prognoses after the use of the Xience V stent (EES) and the Endeavor Resolute stent (ZES-R), second-generation drug-eluting stents mostly used for coronary artery intervention.
Coronary arteries play a role in supplying blood to the cardiac muscle, and coronary artery intervention is to expand narrower coronary arteries via insertion of stent (mesh tube).
The research team led by Professor Hyo-Soo Kim, Dept. of Internal Medicine, SNU Hospital (Professor Kyung-Woo Park and Fellow Ju-Myung Lee) compared one-year prognoses of 5,054 patients treated at 41 hospitals nationwide for 2008~ 2010 who were classified into the EES therapy group (3,056 people) and the ZES-R therapy group (1,998 people). Compared with previous efficacy of first-generation stents, both groups using second-generation stents herein revealed excellent prognoses without showing any prognostic difference.
The incidence rate of mortality, myocardial infarction, and retreatment within 1 year stood at 7.4% and 7.7% for the EES therapy group and the ZES-R therapy group respectively. As for stent thrombosis known as the most serious complication after stent procedures, the EES therapy group and the ZES-R therapy group separately recorded the incidence rate of 0.6% and 0.4% without displaying a prognostic gap. In analysis of risk factors of recurrence of cardiovascular events after stent procedures, recurrence of cardiovascular events stood high: [1] when patients show bad symptoms of underlying diseases; [2] when patients come under serious conditions of coronary artery lesions.
The Xience stent and the Endeavor Resolute stent were recently developed to overcome the drawbacks of first-generation stents. These second-generation drug-eluting stents feature improvement in drug-containing polymer coating and thinner wire mesh for curtailment of stent thrombosis and restenosis.
However, no study confirmed the efficacy of these two stents on the spot of diagnosis. There are two medical trials abroad, albeit on a small scale, with regard to those stents, which have yet the limitations of actual application on the spot due to their exclusion of high-risk groups.
By contrast, this research analyzes more than 5,000 patients and represents the first analysis of therapeutic efficacy of those stents on the spot. Simply put, 75.8% of participants herein fall into the high-risk group who is hard to be treated.
“Is there any gap between two stents mostly used on the spot? How about the recurrence rate after those stent procedures? With such questions weighing heavily upon me, I undertook this study for recent years with wholehearted support of doctors at 41 hospitals nationwide, and it has crucial implications for generating such voluminous and trustworthy findings in Korea and offering valuable information to global academia. This study is expected to give patients more clear information about prognoses after stent procedures, thereby contributing to easing anxiety of patients,” said Professor Hyo-Soo Kim.
The findings of this study were published in the January 2013 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (Impact Factor= 14.5 scores), the world's most influential journal of cardiovascular system.