CardioExchange Archive

April 24th, 2012

Meta-Analysis Compares Drug-Eluting and Bare-Metal Stents for Primary Angioplasty

Larry Husten, PHD

A new meta-analysis comparing drug-eluting stents (DES) and bare-metal stents (BMS) in patients with MI has provoked opposing take-away messages from the study authors and an editorialist. The authors emphasize the reduction in target-vessel revascularization (TVR) associated with DES, but the editorialist focuses on several potential DES weaknesses suggested by the study. In the paper, published in […]

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March 22nd, 2012

Large Meta-Analysis Finds Very Low Thrombosis Rates for Xience Stent

Larry Husten, PHD

A large new meta-analysis published in the Lancet provides the best evidence yet that the cobalt-chromium everolimus eluting (CoCr-EES) stents (Xience and Promus) have a significantly lower rate of stent thrombosis than bare-metal stents (BMS) and other drug-eluting stents (DES). Tullio Palmerini and colleagues analyzed data from 49 randomized trials comparing different stents in more than 50,000 patients. Odds ratios for 1-year […]

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February 23rd, 2012

FDA Grants MI Indication for Drug-Eluting Stents

Larry Husten, PHD

Boston Scientific announced on Wednesday that the FDA had approved the use of its Ion and Taxus Liberte paclitaxel-eluting stents for the treatment of patients with MI. These are the first drug-eluting stents to receive a specific indication for MI. The new indication is based on data from the Taxus clinical program and the HORIZONS-AMI trial. […]

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January 23rd, 2012

Drug-Eluting vs. Bare-Metal Stents, Using Instrumental Variable Analysis

David Cohen, MD MSc

David J. Cohen, the principal investigator of an observational PCI registry study of drug-eluting versus bare-metal stents, sheds light on a risk-adjustment technique called “instrumental variable analysis.” CardioExchange welcomes your thoughts on the value of this method and on the study it was used to elucidate. The Study Using data from a prospective observational PCI registry, researchers […]

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November 2nd, 2011

FDA Approves Abbott’s Xience Prime Drug-Eluting Stent

Larry Husten, PHD

Abbott announced on Tuesday that it had received FDA approval for its Xience Prime everolimus-eluting stent. The cobalt chromium stent is designed to be delivered more easily to complex lesions and will be available in long lengths up to 38 mm. Approval of Xience Prime was based on the SPIRIT Prime clinical trial, an open-label registry […]

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September 14th, 2011

Meta-Analysis Finds Reduction in Stent Thrombosis with Everolimus-Eluting Stents

Larry Husten, PHD

Stent thrombosis and other complications are less likely to occur when an everolimus-eluting stent is used, according to a large new meta-analysis.

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August 15th, 2011

Bare Metal Stents: The Next New Thing?

Larry Husten, PHD

Although drug-eluting stents (DES) have largely supplanted bare metal stents (BMS) in clinical practice, a new study published in Circulation suggests that using these devices in all patients may represent an inefficient use of healthcare resources. Lakshmi Venkitachalam and colleagues analyzed data from 10,144 PCI patients enrolled in the Evaluation of Drug Eluting Stents and […]

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April 26th, 2011

Drug-Eluting Stents Add Nearly $1.6 Billion per Year to Medicare Costs

Larry Husten, PHD

Drug-eluting stents (DESs) cost Medicare an additional $1.57 billion per year, according to a study published online in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Using a random sample of Medicare beneficiaries, Peter Groeneveld and colleagues compared annual costs for patients with coronary artery disease in 2002 (the year before DESs were introduced) with costs from 2002 […]

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