Paclitaxel versus sirolimus eluting stents in diabetic patients: does stent type and/or stent diameter matter? Long-term clinical outcome of 2429-patient multicenter registry.

BACKGROUND:Drug-eluting stents (DES) are more effective in reducing restenosis than bare-metal stents. Less certain is the relative performance of the 2 widely used DES- sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) and paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES)-in diabetic patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). OBJECTIVES: We studied the long-term effectiveness and safety of SES versus PES in diabetic patients, overall and grouped by the size of the stent placed in the native stented vessel. METHODS: Data were obtained from an observational, multicenter registry of 2,429 consecutive patients with DM who underwent PCI between August 2003 and August 2009 with SES (n=1370) or PES (n=1059). Data were analyzed separately for patients with small stents (