A comparison of the first two commercially available “drug-releasing” stents that prevent the re-plugging of arteries reveals the devices are essentially equal, according to a large study published today. Stents are tiny mesh tubes that prop open coronary arteries once blocked by plaque. In recent years, two drug-coated stents have been approved and have been widely used in patients to prevent heart attacks. The devices have been credited with cutting rates of re-blockage in half.One of the stents is coated with paclitaxel, a cancer drug, the other with sirolimus, a medication once used as an antibiotic. Reporting in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a team of Danish researchers noted that doctors were well aware that drug-releasing stents worked, but were less clear on how well one type of stent worked compared to the other. Early studies, the researchers said, were based on relatively small groups of patients.
