Clinical safety of drug-eluting stents in the Korea acute myocardial infarction registry

Background: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents (DES) may be useful in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), but safety issues still need to be solved. This study was undertaken to investigate the incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and stent thrombosis in DES-implanted AMI patients in real-life clinical practice. Methods and Results: On-line registry of AMI cases at the web site www.kamir.or.kr has been performed in 41 primary PCI centers in Korea and between November 2005 and September 2006, 1,541 surviving patients who had been implanted with either Cypher® or Taxus® stents were enrolled for analysis during a 6-month clinical follow-up. There were 2 groups: group I [834 patients, 61.9±11.9 years: sirolimus-eluting stent (Cypher®)], group H [707 patients, 62.9±12.0 years: paclitaxel-eluting stent (Taxus®)]. At both 1 and 6 months the incidence of MACE was not significantly different between the 2 groups. There were 17 cases of stent thrombosis, but the incidence of stent thrombosis was not significantly different between the2 groups (group I:II=9 (1.1%): 8 (1.1%), p=1.000). The stent type, length, number, lesion complexity and diabetes were not significant for the incidence of MACE or stent thrombosis after adjustment. Conclusion: MACE and stent thrombosis rates did not differ between 2 types of DES identified in Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry (KAMIR). DES can be used in patients with AMI with a relatively low 6-month MACE rate.