Stent Assurance Program from Boston Scientific

Boston Scientific has announced a "Stent Assurance Program" -- if a Taxus stent restenoses (reclogs) within a year after insertion, and the patient needs a "re-intervention", the company will give the hospital a free Taxus stent (currently selling at around $2,500). Since a stent once placed cannot be removed, this is not a "replacement" guarantee. Also, no stent is approved by the FDA specifically for treatment of "in-stent restenosis", although some doctors do so. Most likely the "free" stent would not be used in the original patient, but instead is a rebate to the hospital, not directly to the patient or the insurance carrier. The offer is good for calendar year 2006 and only at participating hospitals. A company executive stated, this "is our way of saying that we stand squarely and confidently behind our product". Comments are welcomed from patients and healthcare professionals.

Current Postings (7):

• I suffered thrombosis of a Taxus stent Jan 07 before I even left the recovery area & required emergency restenting. Unfortunately this happened just beyond Boston Scientific's "guarantee" period. The inappropriate lack of consideration for the patient in this program is typical BS (internet pun intended). The only way for the patient to get any consideration is via legal action (class action or malpractice). I may need bypass surgery as I am told restenting an existing stent often does not work out well.
John A, Midwest, USA, January 16, 2007

• From my understanding, sometimes, during the insertion of a stent, the physician may realize that he needs a longer stent than normal, but as the procedure is already halfway thru, he cannot stop, and re-insert a longer stent. There is a new kid on the block, called the Xtent (invented by who else but by XtentInc - website Xtentinc.com) whereby the physician can customized the length of the stent as desired (in situ), while the stent is in the blood vessel, thus allowing for greater accuracy in stent placement. A real, cool piece of innovative medical device. Unfortunately, the stent is still in clinical trials.
desmond chung, dbs vickers, singapore, November 27, 2006

• Failures with most medical devices are tracked by the FDA and the Manufacturer using the MedWatch program.
Robert D., California, USA, November 26, 2006

• I expect that Boston Scientific is taking care of their loyal dealers, while we, the nuisance customers, are too busy chewing nitroglycerin, eager to sign whatever consent form .... without any duress, of course.
Tom, California, USA, November 17, 2006

• I just had two Taxus Express 2 stents placed 3 weeks ago. While it's nice to know that the mfg. stands behind the product ...sort of, it offers me no comfort that the hospital gets a perk as a result of my misfortune, and I get diddly. That's sort of like if I go into Wendy's for a burger, get sick as a result, and the ground beef supplier refunds the money to Wendy's. Thanks a lot, guys ...... To say the hospital would refund the cost to me is naive. They'll charge me with or without the freebie. Sort of a "good old boy" network between the mfg. and the hospitals, if you ask me.
Kevin, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, July 31, 2006

• About a year and a half ago, I had a stent placed. Six months later while out running I expeienced extreme pain in my chest. My cardiologist said the stent had collapsed and called it a one in a thousand occurance. He stented the stent with a longer one. I've been wondering does anyone track these occurances to prevent further incidents? It seems possible of a design flaw or a bad batch.
R., Oregon, USA, May 31, 2006

• This is very promising statement. I just had insertion of the Taxus stent 3 weeks ago.
Kay Russell, Henderson, Kentucky, USA, October 14, 2005

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