Study Finds No Increased Mortality Risk With Drug-Eluting Stents

Data released last week indicate there is no increased mortality with drug-eluting stents compared with bare-metal stents, but the benefit of these stents is limited and the risk of blood clots is sustained, researchers said.

Some of these stents may close up abruptly more than a year after placement due to late-stent thrombosis, according to data presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2007. Although this is a rare event, probably occurring in fewer than 1 percent of patients per year, it is extremely severe, with patients dying in up to 45 percent of those cases, according to the data.

The four-year follow-up of the Swedish Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty Registry found treatment with drug-eluting stents was associated with a slightly elevated risk of death or heart attack after the initial six months, but this figure was balanced by a lower event rate during those first six months, researchers said.

In addition, they said the previously reported increased mortality risk associated with these stents occurred only during the initial years after their market release. No increased risk was observed in patients receiving these stents more recently.