Drug-Coated Stents Create A Higher Risk Of Blood Clots. Data presented at a Washington medical conference revealed that drug-coated stents create a higher risk of blood clots than traditional metal stents.
The data, presented at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics meeting, revealed that the drug-coated stents, manufactured by Boston Scientific Corp. and Johnson & Johnson, carry a statistically significant higher risk of blood clots that could lead to major heart attacks, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
Taxus Stent Caused A Risk Of Blood Clot
The data were taken from 1,800 patients implanted with Boston Scientific Corp.’s Taxus stent and 3,500 patients implanted with Johnson & Johnson’s Cypher stent. Analysis of the data revealed that the Taxus stent caused a 0.4-percent risk of blood clot, while the Cypher stent caused a 0.6-percent risk. While the percentages are small, experts said they are statistically significant. The experts said stent blood clots have a 70-percent chance of causing major heart attacks and deaths.
A Johnson & Johnson spokesman said the numbers “are subject to interpretation by a number of methodologies, some of which may yield significant differences at certain time points.”
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