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Thursday, January 04, 2007Drug-coated stents may hinder the heart's natural ability to form tiny collateral blood vessels that can salvage heart muscle by rerouting the blood supply, according to a new study. This little-understood process, which is known as nature's bypass system, seems to be stunted by the medicine that coats the stents, but not by bare-metal stents, according to Swiss researchers whose study will be published Tuesday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. In a study of 120 patients, there was 30% to 40% less collateral blood vessel function in those implanted with the drug-coated stents, compared with bare-metal stents, six months after implantation. Could it be that the drug-coated stents are too effective? An impetus for the formation of collateral blood vessel formation is limited blood flow through the normal channels. posted by Sydney on 1/04/2007 08:26:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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