What’s a Heart Patient to Do?

Happily, further research is in store. Several other large studies of drug-eluting stents have been underway in recent years, and data from some of them will be revealed at conferences this summer and fall. The trials are sponsored largely by stent manufacturers, but they are also randomized and controlled. Combined with the studies released Wednesday, they may finally settle the debate.

Or not. Drug-eluting stents are still too cutting-edge to be fully appraised by doctors and scientists. Even with the new studies, no one knows what the long-term outcomes look like yet. "In three to five years we may be saying something completely different than what we're saying now," says Carrozza. "But you can't tell a patient to wait three to five years until we have all the information. We have to make these decisions today."

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