Drug-eluting stents versus bare-metal stents for saphenous vein graft interventions

Currently, the use of drug-eluting stents (DESs) for native coronary artery intervention is the standard of care. This is because robust evidence based on high-quality trails support the superior efficacy of DES compared to bare-metal stents (BMSs) (1,2). Additionally, observational studies have shown improved outcomes with DESs compared to BMSs for saphenous vein graft (SVG) intervention (3-5). However, randomized clinical trials (RCTs) frequently exclude patients with SVG stenoses and interpretation of observational studies is limited by multiple biases (6). At this time, the superiority of DESs relative to BMSs for SVG lesions has not been well-established.