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News About Stents and PCI
New Drug-Eluting Stents: Lower Mortality and Less Restenosis Than First Gen DES or Bare Metal Stents
drug-eluting stents
A new report in the European Heart Journal, analyzing 94,384 stent placements, finds that the new generation of drug-eluting stents (Medtronic's Endeavor Resolute, Abbott's XienceV and Xience Prime, and Boston Scientific's Promus and Promus Element) are associated with lower rates of restenosis, stent thrombosis and mortality than either the first generation drug-eluting stents or bare-metal stents. (read more)
New Boston Scientific Stent Shows Significant Shortening Compared to Other 2nd Generation DES
Four Stents Bench Tested
Seven stent designs were bench-tested for resistance to compression -- and the results for Boston Scientific's brand-new flagship PROMUS Element platform, approved by the FDA just last week, were not great. Of all seven stent designs tested, the "Omega Element" had the worst result, shrinking 5mm when compressed with 0.5 N of force. (read more)
For cardiologists: read our follow up article on "Avoiding and Repairing Coronary Stent Distortion"
Medtronic Resolute Drug-Eluting Stent Equals Abbott Xience V in Second Major Study
Medtronic Resolute Stent
Two second-generation drug-eluting stents were shown to have similar outcomes in this late-breaking trial presented at Friday morning's final TCT2011 session. The TWENTE clinical trial, which compared Medtronic's Resolute zotarolimus-eluting stent with Abbott's current market-leading everolimus-eluting Xience V stent is the second major trial to test these two stents head-to-head, or perhaps more accurately, strut-to-strut. (read more)
Stents and PCI Inappropriate Only 4% of the Time
Is This Stent Necessary?
A major study of a half-million angioplasties, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), refutes two major myths about angioplasty and stent use in the United States: myth #1, that angioplasty is vastly overused and unnecessary in most cases; and myth #2, that most angioplasty is used in stable patients and therefore has little or no benefit over drugs in reducing death or heart attacks.... (read more)
Stent News: Reports and Features
Breaking news, original reporting and links to research about drug-eluting stents:
•  All Drug-Eluting Stents News
• New Boston Scientific Stent Shows Significant Shortening Compared to Other 2nd Generation DES
• TWENTE: Medtronic's Resolute and Abbott's Xience V Equivalent
• Medtronic Introduces Two Next-Generation Cardiovascular Devices in Japan
• New Medtronic Resolute Stent Begins Process for FDA Approval
• Medtronic Resolute® Drug-Eluting Stent Delivers Compelling Clinical Outcomes In Major Studies
• Pooled Analysis of XIENCE V vs. Taxus Trials Shows Positive Long-Term Data for Abbott Stent
• Catheter-Based Aortic Valve Replacement Equal to Surgery in High Risk Patients
• Medtronic's Resolute Stent Equivalent to XIENCE V at Two Years
• Drug Eluting Stents Trump Bare Metal Stents for Chronic Total Blockages
• Abbott Receives European Approval for First Bioresorbable Stent
• Angioplasty and Stent Use Cut in Half -- Sort of...
• Stent Accusations: The U.S. Senate Tries to Drum Up COURAGE
• Medtronic's Resolute® Drug-Eluting Stent Matches Market-Leading Rival in Large Head-To-Head Study
•  Endeavor Stent: 5-Year Data Show Safety and Efficacy Advantage
•  FDA Alert: Plavix May Be Less Effective in Some Patients with Genetic Variation (Mar 12)
•  Plavix After Stents: How Long? (Feb 19)
•  Bill Clinton Has Angioplasty, Receives Two Stents (Feb 11)
•  Drug-Eluting Stents Safe and Effective for Treatment of In-Stent Restenosis (Feb 10)
•  Abbott's XIENCE V® Drug-Eluting Stent Superior to Boston Scientific's TAXUS® at One Year (Sep 23)
•  Endeavor® Stent Reduced Risk of Heart Attack/Cardiac Death by 48% at Three Years Compared to Taxus® Stent in Large Study (Sep 21)
•  Stents: An Insider's Look -- OCT and Stent Strut Coverage (July 5)
• ZEST: 3 Stents Go Head-to-Head-to-Head (Mar 29)
Interviews with the Experts
Paul S. Chan, MD, MSc
PCI Appropriateness Criteria Misunderstood
Dr. Paul Chan sets the record straight on Appropriateness of PC in the U.S.. He explains the significance of his new study of a half-million patients, recently published in JAMA.... (read more)
Ralph Brindis, MD, MPH, FACC
Measuring and Managing Appropriateness
American College of Cardiology immediate past president Dr. Ralph Brindis discusses the National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) and weighs in on the recent study of PCI Appropriateness.... (read more)
Alan Yeung, MD
Testing a New Drug-Eluting Stent?
Dr. Alan Yeung, principal investigator of the RESOLUTE US study, discusses trial design and polymer elution outcomes for the RESOLUTE stent.... (read more)
Sanjay Patel, MD FACC
Is 90 Days of Dual Antiplatelet Therapy Enough?
Dr. Fausto Feres is conducting a new trial in Brazil, testing whether 3 months of dual antiplatelet therapy after placement of an Endeavor DES may be sufficient. Dr. Feres discusses the OPTIMIZE Trial of 3,200 patiients... (read more)
Sunil V. Rao, MD, FACC
Genomics Could be Key to Individualizing Antiplatelet Therapy
In this interview, Dr. Eric Topol, Director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, discusses his work in genomic studies of patients' antiplatelet responsiveness and its implications in determining the optimal duration of dual antiplatelet therapy.... (read more)
Jennifer Tremmel, MD
Drug-Eluting Stents: Current Usage and Future Trends
Dr. David Kandzari has been on staff as an interventional cardiologist in several major medical centers and has also served as chief medical officer for Johnson & Johnson/Cordis. He shares his views of the current status of drug-eluting stents in the U.S. and what he sees are the big issues for the future.... (read more)
First Thoughts About Drug-Eluting Stents
Dr. Gregg Stone is Director of Cardiovascular Research and Education at New York-Presbyterian Hospital / Columbia University Medical Center. He discusses the basics of drug-eluting stents, from an interview done just after the Taxus DES was first approved.... (read more)
This special section is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from:
Medtronic Inc.
Visit Medtronic's Website for More Information on Stents and Other Pioneering Therapies
Medtronic, Inc., headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the global leader in medical technology – alleviating pain, restoring health and extending life for millions of people around the world.
Drug-Eluting Stent Overview
drug-eluting stents
Drug-eluting stents (a.k.a. "coated" or "medicated" stents) were developed to solve one of the biggest problems of percutaneous interventional coronary treatment: restenosis -- reblocking or reclosure of the artery.... (read more)
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Sunil V. Rao, MD, FACC
Quote of the Month
"...the COURAGE trial ...implied that maybe 70% or more of angioplasty is for stable angina in the United States...and that simply is not true! Well over 70% of all angioplasty in the United States is for acute syndromes."
-- Ralph Brindis, MD, MPH, FACC
Past President of the American College of Cardiology
Senior Advisor for Cardiovascular Disease
for Northern California Kaiser
Clinical Professor of Medicine
University of California, San Francisco
Learning from Patients:
Patient Forum
Angioplasty.Org hosts a Patient Discussion Forum for topics in interventional cardiology. And we get many posts from patients: some who are back to leading active lives; some who may be having problems post-procedure. While these postings represent a small percentage of all PCIs performed, it is instructive to read these stories.
•   Comments from patients who are not feeling well after stenting -- sometimes it's the new medications, sometimes it's another issue.
•   Questions about how long to take aspirin and Plavix or other antiplatelet medications. There is much confusion among patients about the proper duration of DAPT.
•   Stent patients who are having surgical procedures or dental work are often told they must stop their antiplatelet therapy -- and they write into The Forum.
•   Patient discussions about Exercise, Sport, Physical Activity After Stent
A Patient's Experience:
"It's great to hear of everyone's victories recovery-wise, both major and minor. I had 3 coronary stents in Nov 2010...and the cardio told me exercise as I wish. So, two 10km running races and a half-marathon completed since the stents went in, and I'm now training for triathlons! I quit smoking and have lost over 10kgs and work out about an hour each day. I tell you all this because I'm so impressed by the medical intervention and how it can turn around our lives. The angina before I was diagnosed was agonising and I couldn't even walk 100 metres! Best of luck to everyone undergoing angio and stenting!" -- as posted by DavidJ, March 21, 2011 in Angioplasty.Org's Patient Forum on "Exercise, Sport, Physical Activity After Stent"

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