|
|
Article: Drug-coated stents facing hard 2d look FDA to study risks of popular devices
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- December 6, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2006 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
A Food and Drug Administration panel tomorrow will consider one of
the most urgent questions in medicine: what to do about the risk of
blood clots caused by drug-coated stents, tiny medical devices
implanted in the arteries of millions of people.
The topic of clots has headlined national medical conferences and
filled the pages of medical journals. Now it will be discussed by 19
specialists during a two-day FDA hearing in Maryland.
Behind the clotting concerns, a second issue has emerged about
drug-coated stents: A small but vocal group of doctors say the
devices, which cost about $2,000 apiece, may be only marginally more
effective than the cheaper bare-metal stents they replaced.
Some ...