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(Circulation. 2002;105:e9085.)
© 2002 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cardiovascular News

Ruth SoRelle, MPH

Circulation Newswriter

Late-Breaking Trials From the American College of Cardiology

The troubles with stents and how to solve them, diabetes as a cardiovascular disease, elderly patients and how to treat them, and evidence-based medicine and quality care took center stage at the 51st Annual Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology in Atlanta, Ga, from March 17 to 20, 2002.

Thin Is In
In a spare presentation during the first late-breaking clinical trials session of the conference, Helmut Schuhlen, MD, of the German Heart Center in Münich confirmed the oft-quoted Babe Paley (who opined that one could never be too thin or too rich) when he revealed that the second Intracoronary Stenting and Angiographic results—Strut Thickness Effect on Restenosis Outcome (ISAR-STEREO-2) trial demonstrated that stents with thin struts were associated with better outcomes than were those with thicker struts.

The finding, said Dr Schuhlen, could significantly impact today’s practice. "It could also guide future device development. Stent design has now been brought forward by the fact that stent thickness may impact treatment enormously," he said.

Of course, thin and thick are a matter of context. The thin struts measured no more than 50 µm, whereas the thick ones were 140 µm, said Dr Schuhlen.

A total of 5 German hospitals participated in the study, which enrolled 611 patients who were randomized to one of two types of stent. The two stent types were of similar design but different strut thicknesses. The patients enrolled had small lesions, measuring <2.8 mm in diameter. They were randomly assigned to receive either the Guidant ACS RX . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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