CABG Still Superior to Stents Despite FAME 3 Endpoint Swap

What happened with the 5-year FAME 3 results is not right.  The reporting of this trial comparing stenting vs coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) in patients with multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD) defies proper scientific principles. The FAME 3 Trial of Stents vs Surgery FAME 3 tested the best strategy to revascularize patients with … Read more

Noninvasive Stents as Good as Surgery for Triple-Vessel Disease

CHICAGO — Patients with severe triple-vessel heart disease who underwent a less-invasive stent procedure fared just as well as those who underwent open-heart bypass surgery after 5 years, the FAME 3 trial shows. The results are in marked contrast to earlier studies, which showed that patients with triple-vessel disease were less likely to die or … Read more

Bleeding Prognoses After Coronary Stenting Unreliable

Two scores widely used to determine whether patients are at high risk for bleeding after coronary stenting disagreed in 22% of patients, and one score underestimated the risk, warned investigators comparing the approaches. Bleeding risk is important to know when deciding how long to prescribe dual antiplatelet therapy after percutaneous coronary interventions and how intensive … Read more