Commentary On Drug-eluting Stents: Nice Technology Appraisal Guidance

摘要

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence NICE guidance on the use of drug-eluting stents (DES) was published in July 2008. The guidance replaces sections 1.2-1.4 of NICE technology appraisal guidance number 71, which was published in 2003. This part-review indicates under what circumstances drug-eluting stents are recommended as a cost effective use of NHS resources in England and Wales.rn1. Drug-eluting stents are recommended for use in percutaneous coronary intervention for the treatment of coronary artery disease, within their instructions for use, only if:rn1. the target artery to be treated has less than a 3-mm calibre or the lesion is longer than 15 mm, andrn2. the price difference between drug-eluting stents and bare-metal stents is no more than ￡300.