‘Unbelievable’: Heart Stents Fail to Ease Chest Pain
In 2007, another large study led by Dr. Boden — also without an untreated control
group — found stents did not prevent heart attacks or deaths from heart disease.
Dr. William E. Boden, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, called the results “unbelievable.”
Dr. David Maron, a cardiologist at Stanford University, praised the new study
as “very well conducted” but said that it left some questions unanswered.
All were treated for six weeks with drugs to reduce the risk of a heart attack, like aspirin, a statin and a blood pressure drug, as well as medications
that relieve chest pain by slowing the heart or opening blood vessels.
“All cardiology guidelines should be revised,” Dr. David L. Brown of Washington University School of Medicine
and Dr. Rita F. Redberg of the University of California, San Francisco, wrote in an editorial published with the new study.
“And we don’t know if the conclusions apply for a longer period of observation.”
For the study, Dr. Justin E. Davies, a cardiologist at Imperial College London,
and his colleagues recruited 200 patients with a profoundly blocked coronary artery and chest pain severe enough to limit physical activity, common reasons for inserting a stent.
Clinical guidelines in the United States say stenting is appropriate for patients with a blocked artery
and chest pain who have tried optimal medical therapy, meaning medications like those given to the study patients.
