Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of at least 50 patients that compared drug-eluting stents with bare metal stents in primary angioplasty for treatment of STEMI were eligible for inclusion. Studies where follow-up data were missing for more than 10% of patients, ongoing studies, studies with irretrievable data or mixed ST and non-ST segment elevation mycardial infarction were excluded.
Included studies evaluated sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) and paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES), (including Cypher, Taxus and Endeavour) in comparison with bare metal stents (including Vision, Express, Velocity, Driver and Liberte). Most patients were treated with glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (65% to 100%). Aspirin was prescribed indefinitely along with clopidogrel for one year in 42% of the studies and for between three to six months in 58% of studies. Reported outcomes were variously defined (see review for details), but included death from all causes, reinfarction (ReMI), target-vessel revascularisation, target-lesion revascularisation and stent thrombosis. Follow-up duration ranged from eight to 24 months.
The authors did not state how many reviewers performed study selection.