Clinical trials have shown the benefits of coronary stenting with bare-metal stents over other methods of angioplasty, including balloon angioplasty and atherectomy.<unk> s <unk>  have also been extensively studied, and are generally superior to bare-metal stents concerning the occurrence of major adverse cardiac events (generally defined as death, myocardial infarction, or the need for a repeat revascularization procedure). Stents are indicated to improve the diameter of the coronary artery lumen, when narrowing, generally caused by atherosclerosis, causes ischemia (reduced oxygen delivery to the muscle supplied by that artery). Off-label use<unk> s also have been shown to be superior to bare-metal stents in reducing short-term complications of stenting in saphenous vein grafts; however, use in these bypass grafts is an example of "off-label" use of<unk> s. That is, this application has not been sufficiently examined by the Food and<unk>  Administration for that agency to recommend the use. For "on-label" applications, the FDA "believes that coronary<unk> s remain safe and effective when used for the FDA-approved indications. These devices have significantly reduced the need for a second surgery to treat restenosis for thousands of patients each year." Some concern has been expressed about the overzealous use of stents in general. Two studies found about half of patients received stents for unapproved reasons, with worse outcomes for the patients in both studies. More recent data suggest off-label use of both bare-metal stents and<unk> s has increased risks. However,<unk> s seemed to have similar or improved rates of death or myocardial infarction compared with bare-metal stents, and consistently reduced the need for target vessel revascularization. Overall, the data support the use of<unk> s for off-label indications.
Drug-eluting stent
Cypher stent
Dual therapy stent
Coronary stent
Hybrid coronary revascularization
Bare-metal stent
Transmyocardial revascularization
Valvulotomy