Comparative stent trials, a never-ending story

In the quest for the best drug-eluting coronary stent (DES), many trials have been performed in the last 2 decades. In the beginning, differences in safety and efficacy outcomes between DES were more prominent, and superiority trials were used to show that one DES was safer and better than another. This was a success, because newer-generation DES have proven to be safer than the first-generation DES and even safer in the long-term compared to bare metal stents. Over the years, in a very competitive and lucrative DES market, industry-driven innovation has progressed rapidly. Now, we, as interventional cardiologists, have a broad ...