Prescrire international
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Prescrire international · Apr 2009
Drug-eluting coronary stents: many meta-analyses, little benefit.
(1) Angioplasty is one method of unblocking a stenosed coronary artery. A metal stent is sometimes placed in the vessel lumen. Drug-eluting stents coated with an immunosuppressant or cytotoxic drug have been developed with the objective of reducing the risk of recurrent stenosis; (2) We examined the available literature on the efficacy and adverse effects of drug-eluting stents, based on the standard Prescrire methodology; (3) We found a plethora of clinical trials of drug-eluting stents, and numerous meta-analyses, reflecting the broad economic implications of the market for these devices. ⋯ Serious allergic reactions have also been reported; (6) In most cases, especially when the risk of restenosis is low or moderate, it is better to use a bare metal stent. Coronary artery bypass grafting should be considered when there is a high risk of restenosis. Drug-eluting stents are just one alternative to surgery.
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(1) For patients with chronic symptomatic hyperuricaemia who fail to respond to a low purine diet, allopurinol is the standard drug used to prevent complications. This xanthine oxidase inhibitor can, in rare instances, cause severe skin reactions. Probenecid, a uricosuric agent, with which there is also long experience, is a second-line option; (2) Febuxostat, another xanthine oxidase inhibitor, is now authorized for the treatment of hyperuricaemia; (3) Two randomised double-blind trials in 762 and 1072 patients tested various doses of febuxostat compared with a standard dose of allopurinol (33 mg/day). ⋯ In the short term, severe cardiac disorders, based on a composite endpoint, were 4 to 5 times more frequent with febuxostat than with allopurinol. Treatment withdrawals due to hepatic disorders were more frequent with febuxostat than with allopurinol (2.8% versus 0.4%). The relative frequency of severe cutaneous disorders with febuxostat and allopurinol is not known; (6) Clinical evaluation does not include any head-to-head trials of febuxostat versus probenecid; (7) In practice, patients with hyperuricaemia should continue to receive allopurinol as first-line treatment, and probenecid as second-line treatment if allopurinol is ineffective.