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Study finds heart bypass more effective than stents
By Assocaited Press
Published January 24, 2008
LOS ANGELES - Bypass surgery remains the best option for heart patients with more than one clogged artery, according to the first big study to compare bypass with drug-coated stents. The new research dims hopes that the less drastic stent procedure would prove to be just as good treating multiple blockages. In the study, heart attack and death rates were lower among people who had surgery than those given artery-opening balloon angioplasty and stents - mesh cylinders oozing drugs to keep vessels from reclogging. It is latest setback for drug-coated stents, which have revolutionized heart care and have been implanted in about 6-million people worldwide. They are far better at keeping vessels open than older bare metal stents. However, sales were hurt last year by questions on the value and safety of angioplasty itself for certain patients. A second study gave stent makers some good news, finding that using these devices "off label," in nonapproved situations, is not as dangerous as many had feared. Both studies were published in today's New England Journal of Medicine. Neither is definitive enough to resolve these issues, but they help guide doctors and patients. The bypass vs. stent study by Edward Hannan of the State University of New York at Albany analyzed two state databases of 17,400 New York residents treated for multiple blockages in 2003 and 2004, and compared deaths and complications 18 months later.
[Last modified January 24, 2008, 01:40:43]
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