Sunday, July 01, 2007

The Skinny on Stents

Data have emerged to suggest that popular drug-coated stents (mesh tubes used to prop open diseased arteries) may increase the risk of rare blood clots; other research has suggested that drugs alone may be as effective as stents for some patients with stable heart disease.
In the video segment in today’s installment of Checkup, the WSJ’s Ron Winslow interviews Christopher White, chief of cardiology at New Orleans’s Ochsner Clinic about the present and future of the devices.
Also in Checkup, WSJ.com’s Lydia Serota lays out the risks and benefits for popular stents now on the market, as well as those in development. Among those described in detail are Medtronic’s Endeavor, Johnson & Johnson’s Cypher, Medinol’s bare-metal stents, Xtent’s Custom NX, Boston Scientific’s Taxus, and Abbott Labs’ Xience.

SEE LINK BELOW :
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2007/06/29/the-skinny-on-stents/

No comments: