Polymer-Free Versus Biodegradable Polymer Drug-Eluting Coronary Artery Stents: A Meta-Analysis of Randomised Trials Including 1,975 Patients

Introduction: Late ischaemic events with drug-eluting stents (DES) may be due to persistent inflammation and delayed vascular healing induced by their durable polymer (DP) coating. Biodegradable-polymer (BP-) and polymer-free (PF-) DES were developed in an attempt to mitigate this risk. Previous meta-analyses have shown BP-DES and PF-DES to be non-inferior when compared with DP-DES; however, there are limited data comparing outcomes between BP-DES and PF-DES.