Randomized comparison of deliverability and in-hospital complications in implantation of BxSonic(R), Express(R), and Flexmaster(R) coronary stents.

AIMS: To compare deliverability and in-hospital complications in implantation of BxSonic(R), Express(R), and Flexmaster(R) coronary stents in a randomized multicenter trial in five Danish interventional centres. METHODS AND RESULTS: Patients with planned stenting of at least one stenotic lesion in a native coronary artery were included in the study. There were 494 (664) patients (treated lesions) in the BxSonic(R), 499 (657) in the Express(R) and 500 (658) in the Flexmaster(R) groups. The groups were well matched with regard to age, sex, diabetes, smoking, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, indication for PCI and coronary artery lesion complexity. The study stents were implanted with or without predilatation according to ordinary -clinical practice.Rates of successful stent implantation and in-hospital stent thrombosis, re-intervention, non-fatal myocardial infarction or death. The BxSonic(R), Express(R) and Flexmaster(R) stents were successfully implanted in 92,2%, 89,3% and 91,6% of all lesions (ns). There were no in-hospital deaths and the rates of in-hospital complications were similar in the three stent groups. CONCLUSION: We found similar deliverability and in-hospital complication rates of the BxSonic(R), Express(R) and Flexmaster(R) stents.