Drug-eluting stent reduces complications after angioplasty

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Compared to bare stents, devices that release the drug paclitaxel reduce the risk of an artery re-narrowing after angioplasty.
Although angioplasty is an effective procedure for opening up blocked coronary arteries, the affected vessels often block up again afterwards. In recent years, it has been found that this can be prevented by using stents - the devices that keep the artery open - which are coated with a drug. Sirolimus and paclitaxel have both been used for this purpose.

In a new study, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have been studying the paclitaxel stent in a group of 1,156 patients. They were assigned to either bare stents or paclitaxel-releasing stents. The findings showed that the drug-eluting stent reduced the rate of re-blocking of the affected artery. There were no safety problems with the new stents but there is still room for improvement, for some of the patients still experienced a re-blocking of their artery.

Source
Journal of the American Medical Association 14th September 2005 Volume 294 pages 1215-1223