Drug-eluting stents outperform bare stents

PHILADELPHIA, May 23 (UPI) -- U.S. adults who receive drug-eluting stents to open blocked coronary arteries have a better chance of surviving, U.S. researchers say.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine said the findings were among the first large follow-up studies to show a clear, lifesaving benefit of drug-eluting stents compared to bare metal stents.

The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found patients with the drug-coated stents -- designed not only to open blocked coronary arteries but also to chemically inhibit future blockage -- were less apt to die, have heart attacks or require extra stents or bypass surgery in the two years following placement of the stent.

Dr. Peter W. Groeneveld and colleagues studied Medicare data to identify about 72,000 patients who received drug-eluting stents during a nine-month period in 2003, the first year the devices were approved for use in the United States. The findings showed a clear survival benefit compared to a control group of patients who were given bare metal stents -- at 90 days, one year and two years.