A tiny wire coil coated with special medicines may keep heart arteries flowing after angioplasty, apparently eliminating restenosis, or return of the arterial blockage, which is a major shortcoming of this common procedure. Preliminary data presented at a recent meeting of the American College of Cardiology show that the experimental device was 100 percent effective in 43 patients over two years--a nearly unheard-of achievement in clinical trials.
After angioplasty to open clogged blood vessels, scar-like tissue fills the arteries and squeezes them shut again about one quarter of the time. In recent years, doctors have propped the arteries open with wire coils called stents. The newest ones gradually ooze drugs into the vessels to stop cells from growing.
At least eight different stents--coated with different growth-inhibiting medicines--are being developed and tested.
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