The 7,217-patient study found that 10.7 percent people with drug-coated versions died within two years, compared with 12.8 percent who had bare-metal devices. Also, the drug-coated stents are 16 percent more safe over older, bare-metal versions, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, offering fresh evidence about their safety.
Sales of drug-covered stents fell 30 percent last year following concerns that drug coatings could lead to fatal clots. The new study suggests that irrespective of the kind of heart attack a patient had, the two-year risk of death was somewhat less if drug-coated stents were used.
The study also found that patients with drug-coated stents also suffered fewer repeat heart attacks and were a third less likely to need a second operation to reopen a clogged artery.
In medicine, a stent is a tube that is inserted into a natural conduit of the body to prevent or counteract a disease-induced localized flow constriction. The drug coating is intended to prevent scar tissue from reclogging arteries.
