The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) will present results of the largest meta-analysis to date comparing mortality rates for drug-eluting stents (DES) versus bare metal stents (BMS) at the Drug-Eluting Stent Revolution VII meeting tomorrow evening in Chicago.

Data published today in The Lancet from ABSORB, the world’s first clinical trial of a fully bioabsorbable drug eluting stent for the treatment of coronary artery disease, demonstrated no stent thrombosis, no clinically driven target lesion revascularizations (re-treatment of a diseased lesion), and a low (3.3 percent) rate of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in 30 patients out to one year.

The Summer 2007 issue of The American Heart Hospital Journal explores one of the pivotal issues in cardiology today, the drug-eluting stent (DES). Through commentaries from ten leading national and international specialists, the issue presents a comprehensive discussion on the explosive growth and the potential risks of DESs.

Drug-eluting stent therapy and bypass surgery for coronary artery disease have about the same risk for a major cardiac event within 30 days after the procedures, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's 8th Annual Conference on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.