NICE guidance on stents

The draft guidance recommends the use of drug-eluting stents (DES) for those patients who are at higher risk of needing further stents if a conventional bare-metal stent (BMS) were used instead. These patients have a coronary artery less than 3 mm in diameter, or the segment of the artery to be treated is longer than 15 mm.

The draft guidance also states that drug eluting stents should only be used if the price difference between it and a bare metal stent is no more than £300.