Doctors hoping to minimize chest pains associated with heart disease and perhaps even prevent heart attacks have long treated patients with stents, hollow tubes surgically implanted into blocked artery to prop them open.
Now a landmark study shows that while stents may improve blood flow, using them along with conventional drug therapies is no more effective at preventing heart attacks and other cardiac events than drug therapy alone. The findings, announced today at the American College of Cardiology conference, could have profound effects for patients and device manufacturers, since a staggering 800,000 Americans receive stents each year.
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My only comment is that the news media has done a really lousy job explaining that this data only applies to patients with chronic angina. I can see the patient in the ED having chest pain and ruling in for an MI and refusing to go up to the cath lab based on misinformation.
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