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In Patients with diabetes, drug-coated stents prove safer and more effective than bare metal stents, a new study says.
Study author Dr. Laura Mauri, who is an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, says: “With drug-coated stents, I would say, there is clear efficacy and clear reduction for repeat revascularization procedures.”
“This is an important caveat and I think we have to judge our patients and need to know them as individual to determine on a case-by-case basis. It’s not a blanket statement, but in general, use of drug-coated stents in diabetic patients is really quite beneficial,” Mauri added.
The study has been presented at the American Heart Association’s annual scientific sessions in New Orleans on Monday.
bare metal stents, Diabetes, drug-coated stents, heart disease
Johns Hopkins researchers report says that sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of death in kidney failure patients, and malnutrition and inflammation are two major risk factors for fatal heart attacks in these people.
Data from 1041 end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on dialysis was analyzed and the researchers found that there were 658 deaths (including 146 cases of sudden cardiac death) over 9.5 years.
After that the team examined previously recorded results of blood test from 122 (out of 146 sudden deaths) patents to note the levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) interleukin-6 (IL-6) and albumin. The proteins hsCRP and IL-6 are known as the makers of common blood vessel and organ inflammation, while low albumin levels are linked to malnutrition.
More than 50 percent of cardiac patients in America, who undergo angioplasty don’t get the suggested cardiac stress tests earlier, Medicare data shows.
These tests are necessary for those patients, who likely to have angioplasty or stenting, but just 44 percent of them got the test.
“We didn’t expect to find 100 percent, but we expected a much higher percentage than 44,” said Dr. Rita F. Redberg, professor of medicine at the University of California,
Redberg, the study leader, collected the medical records of approximately 24,000 people who had elective PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention or angioplasty).
In general recommended stress test, patient walks on a treadmill to check heart function, which should be performed in such cases. But records reveal that, just 44.5 percent of patients had stress tests before the PCI. There was variation in percentage, involving factors like, patient characteristics and the age of the doctor performing the PCI.
