Drug eluting stents are the best for the heart

Drug eluting stents (DES) have become the mainstay of treatment with coronary angioplasty, and the new generation seem safer than the previous versions, with less change of acute stent blockage with clot (stent thrombosis).

Now it seems that in acute heart attacks ( acute myocardial infarction or AMI), treated with emergency angioplasty, these DES appear to be better than older bare metal stents (BMS). The research did not look at the duration of blood thinning antiplatelet therapies, but none the less, the use of DES should be the norm, and BMS used only if there are specific risks identified that would make the DES less useful, such as high bleeding risk, or impending non-cardiac  surgery.

Bmj 2014;349:g6427