Atherosclerosis
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Although drug-eluting stents (DES) reduce restenosis rates relative to bare-metal stents (BMS), recent reports have indicated that the use of DES may be associated with an increased risk of stent thrombosis. Our study focused on the effect of stent type on clinical outcomes in a "real world" setting. ⋯ In this real-world population, the beneficial effect of first generation DES in reducing the need for new revascularization compared with BMS extends to more than 2.5 years without evidence of a worse safety profile. The minor risk of stent thrombosis and myocardial infarction within this period after implantation of DES seems unlikely to outweigh the benefit of these stents.