Comparing clinical outcomes for a twelve-month trial of zotarolimus- and everolimus-eluting stents in patients with coronary artery disease: Data from the THCRIC registry

New-generation coronary stents including zotarolimus- and everolimus-eluting
stents (ZES and EES) have been shown to decrease the risk of restenosis. The purpose of this
study was to compare the safety and efficacy of ZES and EES over a 12-month clinical follow
up, in routine clinical practice.
Methods: This is an observational study in which 1029 consecutive patients treated with ZES
(n = 669) or EES (n = 360) were enrolled. The study endpoint was major adverse cardiac
events (MACE), defined as cardiac death, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), and target lesion
or vessel revascularization at 12 months.
Results: Follow up was completed among 94.9% of the patients. The overall MACE occurred in
4 (0.6%) and 7 (2.0%) patients in the ZES and EES group, respectively. The occurrence of other
cardiac events including nonfatal MI and target vessel or lesion revascularization was 1 (0.2%)
versus 1 (0.3%) and 7 (1.1%) versus 5 (1.4%), respectively, in the ZES and EES groups of patients.
Despite a slightly lower rate of MACE and cardiac death in the ZES group, the difference
between these two groups was not significant (n = 0.064 for overall MACE, p = 0.129
for cardiac mortality, n = 0.999 for nonfatal MI, n = 0.468 for target vessel and n = 0.999 for
target lesion revascularization).
Conclusions: According to our results, it could be concluded that the difference in the rate of
MACE between the ZES and EES groups was not statistically significant at 12-month follow up