Stents Help Angioplasty Patients, Study Finds

Heart attack patients who get an emergency angioplasty to open a blocked artery also should routinely have a stent inserted to keep the blood vessel from clogging again, a large study concludes. Previous studies have found that balloon angioplasty is superior to clot-dissolving drugs in treating heart attacks, offering a better survival rate and fewer complications.

Still, an artery can clog again after angioplasty, and the new study was done to see if stents or a blood-thinning drug can improve the outcome. A stent is a wire-mesh tube.

The research on 2,082 patients, reported in the March 28 New England Journal of Medicine, showed that angioplasty and stents are more effective than angioplasty alone. Without a stent, patients were twice as likely to have problems and need a second procedure.

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From Times Staff and Wire Reports