TCT 2016: Stents, stents, stents on Day 1

The annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics conference is under way in Washington, D.C., with late-breaking study results beginning yesterday. We’ll update this post throughout the day as new results come in, so be sure to check back for the latest news out of TCT 2016.

Stents took center stage Day1, with a raft of studies covering the latest on the bioresorbable front.

Stents equivalent to CABG

Drug-eluting stents are as effect as coronary artery bypass grafts in treating patients with blocked left main coronary arteries, according to a study that compared Abbott‘s (NYSE:ABT) Xience DES with CABG in more than 1,900 patients presented today at TCT 2016.

The Excel trial followed the patients, who were randomized to treatment either with Xience or CABG procedure, for at least 2 years and a median of 3 years.

About 15% of patients in each arm had a heart attack, stroke or died within 3 years, lead author Dr. Greg Stone, of New York City’s Columbia University Medical Center, said in a press release.

“In other words, stents were equally effective as bypass surgery,” Stone said.

The study also analyzed 30-day complication rates, showing that the stented cohort had significantly lower rates of death, stroker, heart attack or revascularization than the CABG cohort (4.9% compared with 7.9%). And fewer stent patients had major bleeding, infections, kidney failure or severe abnormal heart rhythms, according to the study, presented at the annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics conference in Washington, D.C., and published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“Our study has shown that many patients with left main coronary artery disease who prefer a minimally invasive approach can now rest assured that a stent is as effective as bypass surgery for at least 3 years, and is initially safer, with fewer complications from the procedure,” Stone said. “Our study establishes stents as an acceptable or preferred alternative for patients with [left main coronary artery disease] and low or moderate disease complexity in the other 3 coronary arteries – about ⅔ of all LMCAD patients.”

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