March 26, 2007 -- Before stents, there were bypass surgeries. Their popularity soared near the end of the last century until it seemed one could never get enough bypasses, even though no study ever showed any survival benefit for the procedure. Bypass surgeries were bypassed by a simple mechanical device, called the stent, the most successful medical device on the market. Unfortunately, a clinical trial shows that stents, much like bypass surgery, do not improve survival or the risk of further heart attacks compared to drug treatment. We look at the history and the new trial results...
