Comparison of gold-coated NIR stents with uncoated NIR stents in patients with coronary artery disease

Stainless steel stents are widely used for coronary intervention because of their relatively inert properties and high mechanical stability within the vasculature. However. radiopacity is poor with stainless steel, making stent deployment difficult. Gold-coated stents are attractive for the interventional cardiologist because of their better visibility and user-friendly design. Furthermore, initial studies have reported that gold-coating may decrease thrombus formation as well as neointimal hyperplasia within the stents. (1-3) However. a recent clinical trial showed that gold-coated stents may be associated with a considerable increase in the risk of restencisis over the first year after stenting.(4) Therefore, it still remains uncertain whether gold-coating should be used for coronary stents. In the present study, we conducted a multicenter, prospective, randomized trial to determine whether gold-coating increases in-stent restenosis in patients with coronary artery disease.