CYPHER Stent Continues to Prove Its Worth

A clinical trial comparing stents found that the CYPHER Sirolimus-eluting Coronary Stent had a clinical benefit similar to that of a bare metal stent (BMS), with no differences in incidence of heart attack, death, or blood clots. Data from this new trial support data from a previous trial touting CYPHER?s benefits. In fact, this trial showed that patients in the CYPHER group had significantly lower rates of target vessel failure at the 5-year follow-up than patients in the BMS group (22.5% vs 34.7%). At the long-term follow-up, the CYPHER stent also resulted in lower rates of re-treatment, myocardial infarction, and death, when compared with BMS (9.4% vs 24.2%).

Ms. Farley is a freelance medical writer based in Wakefield, RI.