Long-term clinical safety and efficacy of NIROYAL vs. NIR intracoronary stent

Research in vitro and in animal models suggested that gold electroplating of stents can attenuate neointimal hyperplasia and reduce thrombogenicity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the gold-coated NIROYAL stent in the treatment of stenosed coronary arteries and bypass grafts. We retrospectively studied 181 consecutive patients undergoing deployment of NIR (n = 87) or NIROYAL (n = 94) coronary stents in a single tertiary referral center from July 1997 to December 1998. Mean follow-up duration for the NIR and NIROYAL patient groups were 11.6 and 11.4 (range, 3-12) months, respectively. Stent thrombosis rates were 3/87 (3%) in the NIR and 0/94 (0%) in the NIROYAL group (P = 0.07). The need for target lesion revascularization (TLR) in the NIR patient group was 8/87 (9%) compared to 11/94 (12%) in the NIROYAL patient group (P = 0.6). The overall MACE rates for the NIR and NIROYAL patient groups were 24/87 (28%) and 22/94 (23%), respectively (P = 0.5). The present study, hence, implies equivalence between the stainless steel NIR and the gold-plated NIROYAL stent with no significant difference in immediate and long-term clinical performance profiles.