Bypasses Better Than Drug Coated Stents, Study Says
January 25th, 2008 amy
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine says patients with multiple clogged arteries are better off getting bypass surgery than drug coated stents. The study looked at drug coated stents made by Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific Corp. in the U.S. Previous studies saw similar results with older, bare stents.
According to this week’s study, patients who opt for stenting over a bypass may be paying a price down the road. Doctors at the University at Albany looked at patients who received a stent or bypass in New York state in 2003 and 2004, comparing subsequent rates of death and heart attacks, the Wall Street Journal reported. The actual death rates between the competing procedures didn’t differ. But after adjusting for risk factors — bypass patients were sicker to start out– the study found substantial differences.
After adjustments, New Yorkers with two clogged arteries who received a bypass had a 29% lower death rate over the next 18 months than those who received stents. Three-quarters of such patients had opted for stenting. For the sickest patients — those with three clogged arteries — surgery yielded a 20% lower death rate. Two-thirds of those patients received surgery, the WSJ article said
