Early results of the SPIRIT II study showed that the XIENCE V stent was superior to the Taxus stent in six-month findings on angiography and trended better on one-year clinical outcomes. Now, a new analysis shows that after two years, the investigational everolimus-coated XIENCE V stent may continue to hold a clinical edge over its paclitaxel-coated competitor.

An angioplasty balloon coated with a drug that reduces renarrowing of the coronary arteries appears to be more effective than a drug-eluting stent in treating an unwanted build-up of tissue inside a bare-metal coronary stent.

A large community-based registry of patients treated with drug-eluting stents is providing important insight into how long patients with complex coronary artery disease typically stick to their doctors’ orders to take clopidogrel, a drug that prevents unwanted blood clots; why they stop taking the drug; and the long-term consequences of that decision.

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.

Drug-eluting stents are just as safe and effective as traditional bare-metal stents when used in routine clinical practice, according to a new study by researchers at Rhode Island Hospital. Their findings are published in the November 20th issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Doctors should think twice before using drug-coated stents in some heart attack patients, experts said Tuesday. Dr. Gabriel Steg presented research at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology in Vienna showing that patients who received drug-coated stents in an emergency situation were five times more likely to die after two years than those who received bare metal stents.

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.