Diabetics with more than one diseased artery fared significantly better if they underwent bypass surgery than those who received drug coated stents following artery clearing procedures to improve blood flow to the heart, according to data from a five-year study presented on Sunday.
After five years, the bypass group had a lower combined rate of heart attacks, strokes and deaths of 18.7 percent versus 26.6 percent for the stent group in the 1,900-patient study funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
The result was deemed to be highly statistically significant, researchers said.
Previous studies had demonstrated the superiority of bypass surgery over the use of bare metal stents - tiny mesh tubes used to prop open cleared arteries. Researchers suspected that newer stents coated with drugs to prevent reclogging might negate some of the bypass advantage, but that turned out not to be the case.
"The advantages were striking in this trial and could change treatment recommendations for thousands of individuals with diabetes and heart disease," said Dr. Valentin Fuster, from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, who presented the findings at the American Heart Association scientific meeting in Los Angeles.
05/11/2012 : By Bill Berkrot and Deena Beasley / Reuters.
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