Figure 3.
Illustration of the post-stent epicardial reactivity to acetylcholine in the various studies referenced in the text56–62. The values express the change in coronary artery lumen diameter (%) to acetylcholine or exercise, measured by angiography; horizontal short lines represent average, and vertical bars standard deviation. The red vertical line separates drug-eluting stents from bare metal stents. As can be appreciated, patients with drug-eluting stents exhibit a vasoconstrictive response, while patients with bare metal stents have a roughly neutral vascular response. AEES, absorbable everolimus eluting scaffold; BMS, bare metal stent; PES, paclitaxel eluting stent; DES, drug eluting stent; SES, sirolimus eluting stent; ZES, zotarolimus eluting stent.