Paves Way for Better Treatment of Coronary Artery Disease

		Cardiology News Archive Featured in the Media JeffNEWS

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is the first hospital in Philadelphia to offer the next generation of drug eluting stents for the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD). Recently approved by the U.S Food and Drug Administration, the XIENCE V Everolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent System, has proven to be more effective in reducing adverse cardiac events in recent clinical trials of patients with previous cases of CAD.

“CAD is the most common cause of death in the country so any advancement is an important step forward,” said Michael Savage, M.D., director, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. “Jefferson is always looking to use leading edge technology to advance the treatment options for our patients. According to a recent study reported in Journal of the American Medical Association (April 23, 2008), this new stent outperforms the most widely used drug eluting stent on the market, so we couldn’t be happier to offer it to our patients.”

Coronary artery disease is a serious condition that occurs when plaque buildup clogs the arteries and reduces blood flow to the heart. The blockage can lead to chest pain, shortness of breath or even a heart attack. A stent is a tiny wire mesh tube that is inserted into a clogged artery during a minimally-invasive angioplasty procedure. Once inserted the stent props open the artery and restores blood flow to the heart. However, for some patients the stent’s benefit is lost after several months dues to restenosis, a process where scar-like plaque clogs the stent. Drug eluting stents are coated with a medication

(Everolimus, in the case of XIENCE V) which is released in a controlled fashion over time to prevent the artery from renarrowing, thereby decreasing the need for a follow-up procedure.

“One of the distinct features of the XIENCE V stent compared to the other drug eluting stents on the market is its engineering,” said Savage. “This stent is more easily delivered to the site of the blockage. It doesn’t matter what kind of stent you have if you can’t get it to the site of the blockage. Also the study published in JAMA showed a 43 percent reduction in major adverse cardiac events and a statistically significant 50 percent reduction in renarrowing of the stented vessel versus today’s most widely used stent. These are three important advantages that set the XIENCE V apart.”

XIENCE V is built upon the world’s most popular bare metal stent system. The system design offers physicians the ability to deliver the stent to the precise location of the blockage with ease, quickly restoring blood flow to the heart. In two clinical trials, XIENCE V has been shown to be superior to the most widely used drug eluting stent. In the SPIRIT II trial, XIENCE V demonstrated superiority with a statistically significant 69 percent reduction in the primary endpoint of in-stent late loss at six months. In-stent late loss is the amount of blockage due to scar-like plaque build-up that occurs in a stent over an amount of time as the artery heals. In the SPIRIT III trial, XIENCE V demonstrated superiority with a statistically significant 50 percent reduction in the primary endpoint of in-segment late-loss at 8 months. In addition, XIENCE V demonstrated a 45 percent reduced risk of major adverse cardiac events such as heart attack, death and the need for repeat procedure compared to the most widely used stents at two years in the SPIRIT III trial.

Dr. Savage does not receive any compensation from XIENCE V manufacturer Abbott Vascular.

Along with Dr. Savage the rest of the interventional cardiology team that will be implanting the new stents are: Dr. Paul Walinsky, Dr. David Fischman, Dr. David Ogilby and Babu Jasti.