Bad news first: Heart attack victims are more likely to die if they're fitted with a drug-coated stent than if they're given a bare one, according to an analysis of 2,300 patients in 14 countries, known as the Grace Registry.

But opposite-and-somewhat-equal good news, also presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress: Swedish researchers following drug-coated stent patients found no increased risk of death. And Boston Scientific, which makes the Taxus drug-eluting stent, also announced results of its own study--no increased risk of blood clots in patients four to five years on. (We'll take this latter study with a grain of salt [1], however.)

For its part, Johnson & Johnson, which markets the Cypher drug stent, deemed the Grace Registry findings "inconsistent" with other studies (those with results it likes better, of course).

- here's the report [2] on the heart-attack study
- see the report on the Swedish study here [3]
- check out release [4] from Boston Scientific

Related Articles:
Tough times for stent market. Report [5]
Congress spotlights J&J stent ops. Report [6]
Medical device makers to fund stent safety study. Report [7]
Stent study surprises. Report [8]
Decline in drug-coated stent use at cardiac centers. Report [9]