[Current status of drug-eluting stents and drug-eluting balloons in patients with stable coronary artery disease--an expert consensus document of the Association for Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions and Polish Cardiac Society].

Despite a dramatic reduction in restenosis and target vessel revascularisation rates by drug eluting stents (DES), conflicting concerns have been raised over the risk for late DES thrombosis when compared to bare metal stents. Certainly, the heterogeneity of DES results from the introduction of a great variety of new DES types with diverse efficacy and safety parameters. Furthermore, we observe a steady increase in DES availability without parallel and robust data from randomised clinical trials. Thus, the postulated class effect of DES should be regarded as non-obligatory. This article is based on 110 randomised DES trials performed on 72 305 patients. Current status of DES and guidelines for DES implantation in various clinical scenarios were discussed.