"There has been a growing concern about the possibility of an increased risk of stent thrombosis (the formation of a clot in a blood vessel) associated with the use of drug-eluting stents compared with bare-metal stents," said Dr. David Malenka of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H.

"Although other data may suggest some incremental risk of stent thrombosis with the use of drug-eluting stents, we can detect no adverse consequence to the health of the population," the researchers said. "We speculate that whatever the increased risk of stent thrombosis associated with drug-eluting stent use is, it's more than offset by a decrease in the risk of developing restenosis (re-narrowing of a coronary artery after angioplasty) and the attendant risk of a procedure to treat that restenosis."

The study appears in the June 25 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.