The landmark FREEDOM (Future Revascularization Evaluation in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus: Optimal Management of Multivessel Disease) trial completed in 2012 showed that coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) was superior to stenting in diabetic patients with multivessel disease on a follow-up of 3.8 years. The FREEDOM trial was a prospective, randomized, multicenter superiority trial that compared multivessel PCI to CABG in diabetic patients on optimal medical therapy. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute sponsored trial demonstrated CABG was superior to PCI with first generation drug-eluting stents.
Outcomes favoring CABG were driven by a reduction in all-cause mortality and non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI) while complicated by increased rates of stroke. The question was seemingly answered, with significantly higher major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular event…
