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New stent used for first time in Canada

TORONTO, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A new artery stent developed to reduce complications seen with the more common stent has been used for the first time in North America.

The antibody-coated stent, developed in Hong Kong, was implanted in a 41-year-old Canadian woman in a Toronto hospital.

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The new stent differs from the more widely used drug-eluting stent, which has a low blood clot risk but requires the patient take blood thinners.

The Wall Street Journal reports the antibody stent isn't certified to be used in Canada but doctors at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto got special approval because the patient is allergic to aspirin, a main ingredient in blood thinners.

The antibody stent rebuilds the endothelial lining, or cell lining, of blood-vessel walls.

It has been given to more than 500 patients in Europe and is being looked to as the next major advance in stent technology, despite the 20-percent rate of returning clogged blood vessels.

Dr. Deepak L. Bhatt, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said it could possibly "revolutionize what we do in the catheterization lab."

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