Comparison of real-world clinical outcomes between Cypher- and Taxus-eluting stents: the GARA-GARA study

To evaluate real-world outcomes of PCI in unselected individuals using sirolimus-eluting (SESs) or paclitaxel-eluting stents (PESs) in a single-center randomized trial. Eight hundred consecutive patients (919 lesions) with coronary artery disease were randomized to receive SES or PES implantation. In-hospital, mid-term, and 1-year clinical and angiographical outcomes in both groups were compared. MACEs were defined as cardiac death, myocardial infarction, CABG and target vessel revascularization (TLR). Follow-up angiography was performed in 80.7% of patients. The baseline clinical characteristics were similar in both groups. Pre- and postprocedural reference vessel diameter, minimum length diameter, and diameter stenosis (%DS) were similar in both groups, as was incidence of in-hospital and mid-term MACEs. SESs significantly reduced the risk of TLR, compared with PESs (SES = 5.5%, PES = 10.5%). The superiority of SESs for TLR was also demonstrated with regard to small vessel lesions (stent diameter <2.5 mm) (SES = 6.0%, PES = 15.9%), whereas larger vessel (stent diameter >2.5 mm) lesions did not differ between groups (SES = 5.3%, PES = 8.4%). The safety and efficacy of both DESs were nearly equivalent. SESs, however, were superior to PESs in reducing mid-term TLR, particularly in the small vessel lesion subsets.