Why is the use of bare metal stents included in this study? Isn’t the primary concern with DES?
The primary concern of the DAPT Study is the optimal duration of dual anti-platelet therapy (DAPT) in subjects treated with drug eluting stents (DES), but there is also a valid clinical question as to whether the benefit (or lack of benefit) of the extended duration is unique to DES subjects or if it is also present (or absent) in bare-metal stent (BMS) subjects. The inclusion of BMS subjects in the randomization will allow DES to be compared with the alternative, BMS, after adjusting for duration of therapy and patient characteristics.
