In the first study of its kind, a drug-eluting stent (DES) with a biodegradable polymer applied only to the outer surface has been demonstrated as safe and effective as one of the most established and widely used types of DES with a durable polymer, in equivalent conditions to everyday clinical practice.
The LEADERS (Limus Eluted from A Durable versus ERodable Stent coating) Study randomly assigned 1,707 patients with 2,472 lesions to treatment with either a biolimus-eluting stent with a biodegradable polymer or a sirolimus-eluting stent with a durable polymer. The study involved a broad range of patients for whom a stenting procedure was considered suitable, designed to reflect routine clinical practice.
Nine months after the procedure, the numbers of deaths, heart attacks and repeat interventions required because of renewed blood vessel narrowing were equivalent in both treatment groups (9.2% of patients in the biolimus-eluting stent group and 10.5% of patients in the sirolimus-eluting stent group). In the one in four patients given an angiogram, the degree of blood vessel narrowing at the site of stent implantation was also equivalent in both treatment groups.