Drug-coated Stents or Sugar-coated Stunts?

Drug-coated Stents or Sugar-coated Stunts? The worst doubts have been confirmed. It has been fully established in a recent study that Coronary Interventions are being overdone, all over the world esp in USA and India. In a multicentric study involving >2000 pts going to be published in NEJM, Dec 2006, Dr JS Hochman of NY University and Dr EG Nabel, Director, NHLBI, Bethesda, USA have found that Coronary stents, esp the heavily priced drug coated ones are being deployed in some pts, where they may not be beneficial and even may be harmful! PTCA and Stenting has become more a cosmetic exercise than a life saving treatment. While the benefits of PTCA and Stenting are well known in Acute MI within the golden hour and in pts with Unstable angina not responding to medical treatment, the indications for other classes of pts is nebulous. Unfortunately, Interventional Cardiology, like any other branch of Medicine, is being practiced to cater to the needs of the Industry rather than the needs of the Consumer, the patient. This will continue as long as we don’t follow the basic ethics of Medical practice --- Primum non nocere (First do no harm). But then who is going to fund all thoses foreign trips and high tech Cardiology conferences?