Study Supports Selective Use of Drug-Coated Stents, Saint Luke's Mid America Heart and Vascular Institute Reveals

Limiting the use of expensive drug-eluting (coated) stents does not increase patients' risk of heart attack or death, but it can save the U.S. health care system hundreds of millions of dollars a year, a new study suggests. A stent is a mesh tube used to keep an artery open after a procedure to unblock clogged or narrowed arteries (angioplasty). A drug-eluting stent is coated with medicine to prevent blood clots. Research has shown that drug-eluting stents are better than bare-metal stents at preventing re-narrowing of arteries, according to background information in the study.

Back to news