New Drug Coated Stent Approved by FDA
July 8th, 2008 amy
Despite fears that drug coated stents can do more damage than good in many cases, the FDA has approved yet another drug coated stent — this one called Xience, manufactured by Abbott. This is the fourth drug coated stent to receive FDA approval.
In many cases, drug coated stents do save lives — or at least prolong them. In other cases, drug coated stents cause dangerous blood clotting and death. In December of 2006, the American Journal of Medicine published a study which found dangerous blood clotting to be 4-5 times more likely to occur in patients implanted with drug coated stents than with the older bare metal stents. Since that type, many doctors reverted back to using the bare metal stents except in cases where the benefits of using drug coated stents outweighed the risks.












