A new study has found that patients who received drug-coated stents after suffering a heart attack were more likely to die from a heart-related problem than those who received bare metal coronary stents.
The results of the study, performed by Danish researchers at the behest of coronary stent manufacturers, were revealed at a recent conference held by the American College of Cardiology in Atlanta, according to a story by Reuters. The study’s findings come as drug-coated stents have taken a 77% share of the stent market, eclipsing bare metal stent use in just seven years since the drug-coated stents were first released, but down from a 90% high in 2006.
Coronary stents are wire mesh tubes inserted into previously clogged arteries to prevent them from closing again and possibly causing the recipient to suffer a heart attack or other coronary problems. The drug-coated stents, also known as drug eluting stents, are covered in medication meant to prevent the formation of scar tissue that may clog the stent. However, shortly after they were introduced seven years ago, studies began to show that drug-coated stents carried their own risks.
Studies have identified heart attack, reclogging of arteries and death as potential side effects of drug-covered stents. While it was originally believed that patients would only need to be on blood thinners for three months after receiving a medicated stent, in reality patients often required to take powerful blood thinners, like Plavix, for much longer, which exposes them to other risks and complications associated with those medications.
The most recent study, which has not yet been published, examined the effectiveness and risk of bare metal and drug-coated stents implanted shortly after a heart attack. Researchers found that drug-coated stent recipients were more likely to die from heart problems than patients who received bare metal stents. However, bare metal stent recipients tended to appear to have more non-lethal problems, such as requiring blockages to be alleviated.
Scientists involved in the study said that more research was needed to truly understand the long-term effects and side effects of drug eluting stents.
The results could be of particular concern given two studies published 2007 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), which found that more than half of all drug-coated stents are used for “off-label” reasons which have not been approved by the FDA. In at least half the cases studied, researchers found that patients had at least one condition that should have disqualified them from receiving a heart stent.
Some experts have also questioned the widespread popularity of stent placements, indicating that many patients may be able to treat their conditions with medication or diet. In Maryland, a well-known cardiac center has come under fire for implanting hundreds of unnecessary stents. St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson has notified 538 former patients of Dr. Mark Midei that a subsequent review of their records indicates that a heart stent may not have been needed to treat their blockage.
Stent procedures cost $10,000 or more each. Midei was stripped of his position at the hospital last summer and the hospital is still reviewing his records and anticipates more patients will have to be informed about the unnecessary surgeries.