Tuesday, April 03, 2007

No Benefit of PCI Over Optimal Drugs for Preventing Events in Stable CAD

March 30, 2007 (New Orleans, Louisiana) — Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) plus stenting and optimal medical therapy is no better at preventing future events than optimal medical therapy alone in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD), according to the results of the Clinical Outcomes Utilizing Revascularization and Aggressive Drug Evaluation (COURAGE) trial. The much-anticipated results, presented here during a late-breaking clinical-trials session by lead investigator William E. Boden, MD, from the Buffalo General Hospital in Buffalo, NY, add fuel to the mounting fire about whether stents, including drug-eluting stents, are being overused for the treatment of stable CAD or for the prevention of future cardiac events.
Full results of the study were published simultaneously online in the March 27 Early Release issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

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