Coated cardiac stents seem to keep arteries open

A new study shows that drug-coated stents appear to be stunningly successful in keeping arteries open well after an angioplasty.

New York Times, March 18, 2002

Coated Stents Seem to Keep Arteries Open

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA, March 17 (AP) A study released today shows that a new approach to keeping blood flowing smoothly through heart arteries after angioplasty has had astonishing success in early testing, apparently solving a major shortcoming of angioplasty.

Doctors found the new approach, the use of drug-coated stents, to be 100 percent effective, almost unheard of in medicine, in 43 patients who had had them for two years.

More than a million Americans a year undergo angioplasty, and the new approach probably will be used on most of them if further testing supports the early findings. The stents could be on the market next year.

Full story at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/18/health/18HEAR.html

Wonder is coating will be used for renal stents in near future too?