|
|
Article: Stents with a difference: drug-coated stents are potent weapons in the war on heart disease--but they aren't for everyone with clogged arteries.(Disease/Disorder overview)
- Article from:
- Healthy Years
- Article date:
- June 1, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Belvoir Media Group, LLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Despite a host of medical advances over the past several decades, the American Heart Association (AHA) reports that heart disease remains the number-one killer of Americans. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), cardiovascular disease causes almost 27 percent of deaths in people 55 to 64 and almost 48 percent of deaths in those over 65.
However, there's good news. Important progress is being made on the treatment front. A case in point: a new generation of cardiac stents (tiny mesh wire tubes used to keep arteries open) coated with medications can prevent arteries from re-clogging after treatment.
Widely heralded as a breakthrough in the ...