[Drug eluting stents: lessons from registries and literature]

Discussion about drug eluting stents (DES) was a highlight of the High Tech 2004 congress. This new kind of coronary stent represents a new revolution in the field of coronary angioplasty. After the excellent results with the bare metal stent compared with balloon angioplasty, concerning clinical events and restenosis in the 90s, DES have showed a spectacular decrease in restenosis rate. If it does not mean the end of restenosis, its decrease opens new therapeutic perspectives in percutaneous coronary intervention. A lot of registries and trials are now available and allow to assess the current use of DES, assess the incidence of (acute) stent thrombosis, assess the new therapeutic indications (intra-stent restenosis, left main coronary artery, chronic total occlusion, acute myocardial infarction...) and experimentations concerning evolution of the device are in process.