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Who Will Benefit From Coated Stents?
About one quarter of all patients undergoing angioplasty for blocked arteries need to have another angioplasty or coronary artery surgery to restore blood flow to the heart when scar-like tissue forms around the initial angioplasty site. Drug-coated stents are the solution to this problem.
Drug-coated stents could reduce the number of bypass surgeries and repeat angioplasties by 20%-30%. Also, drug-coated stents will most likely reduce the price of caring for patients with heart disease. They will reduce risks as well, particularly for certain patients-the elderly, people with diabetes and women, who have a higher mortality rate during surgery and who have more extensive disease than men when they are diagnosed with cardiovascular disease.
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