STENTS MAY NOT BE NEEDED FOR SOME HEART-ATTACK PATIENTS

A recent study shows that angioplasty with the use of stents -- also known as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) -- may offer no significant benefit compared with standard drug therapy in treating heart-attack patients.

Results from the Occluded Artery Trial indicated that "stable patients who had angioplasty plus stenting three to 28 days after a heart attack did no better than patients on medical therapy (primarily drug treatment) alone," according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), which sponsored the trial. The findings were presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions conference this week.

The study was published in the Nov. 14 online version of the New England Journal of Medicine and will appear in the journal's December 7 print issue.