DRUG-ELUTING STENTS BETTER THAN BARE METAL, STUDY SAYS

Using a drug-eluting stent markedly cuts the risk of scar tissue blocking an artery over using bare metal stents, the October issue of Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions: Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions found.

The report found that once a coronary stent becomes blocked with scar tissue the likelihood it will become blocked again is between 30 and 80 percent. Inserting a secondary stent that slowly releases antiscarring medication can cut that risk to 8.5 percent, the report found. The researchers studied 23 patients that had been fitted with drug-eluting stents after symptoms of in-stent restenosis appeared.

Researchers also showed that it was unnecessary to thread a high-tech ultrasound device into the artery to guide precise placement of the drug-eluting stent.