From balloon angioplasty to drug-eluting stents: revolution or evolution?

Drug-eluting stenting is part of the evolution of interventional cardiology that started with Gruentzig's introduction of balloon angioplasty in 1977. Numerous advances in interventional cardiology technique have occurred since that time, and drug-eluting stents hold promise for reducing the restenosis rate but as yet have not been shown to influence survival or freedom from myocardial infarction. The ability of stents to influence these hard end points will be tested against the most difficult patient subset for interventional cardiology: persons with diabetes mellitus and multivessel disease. As more data are accumulated, prudent selective use of drug-eluting stenting seems most appropriate.