Paclitaxel-eluting versus bare metal stents in primary PCI: a pooled patient-level meta-analysis of randomized trials Giuseppe De LucaMaurits T. DirksenHenning KelbækLeif Thuesen • Marteen A. VinkChristoph KaiserTania ChechiGaia Spaziani • Emilio Di LorenzoHarry SuryapranataGregg W. Stone

Concerns have emerged regarding a higher risk of stent thrombosis after drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation, especially in the setting of ST-segment ele- vation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Therefore, we per- formed a meta-analysis based on individual patient data to evaluate long-term safety and effectiveness of paclitaxel- eluting stent (PES) as compared to bare metal stents (BMS) in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for STEMI. We examined all completed randomized trials on PES for STEMI. Individual patient data were obtained from six trials. We performed survival analyses with the use of Cox-regression analysis stratified according to trial. Kaplan-Meier survival curves are pre- sented with event rates reported as estimated probabilities. A subsequent landmark analysis was performed for patients who were event-free at 1-year follow-up in order to define outcome in terms of early (B1 year) and late ((1 year) events. A total of six trials were finally included in the meta-analysis with 4435 patients, 2875 (64.8 %) assigned to PES and 1560 (35.2 %) to BMS. No significant differ- ences in baseline characteristics were observed between the two groups. However, a significantly higher percentage of patients in the DES group were on dual antiplatelet therapy during 3-year follow-up, as compared to BMS. At long- term follow-up (1,095 (1,090-1,155) days), no significant difference between PES and BMS was observed in mor- tality (9.2 vs 11.9 %, respectively, HR (95 % CI) = 0.84 (0.67, 1.06), p = 0.15, pheterogeneity = 0.59), reinfarction (8.8 vs 7 %, respectively; HR (95 % CI) = 1.10 (0.84, 1.44), p = 0.51, pheterogeneity = 0.32), stent thrombosis (6.7