- Obama says Boosting US Jobs is Top Priority
- More Consumers Giving 'Black Friday' the Cold Shoulder
- Prepare For Large Decline In Stocks, Next Year?
- Hewlett-Packard Earnings Rise, Match Guidance
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- Cramer: What Monday’s Housing Number Really Means
- Why the Dollar Will Likely Stay Weak for Some Time
- Bear, Lehman Execs Weren't Wiped Out by Crisis: Study
- How Real Estate Investors Skew Housing's Reality
- Can Murdoch Help Bing Challenge Google and Shift the Content Equation?
- HP's Mark Hurd
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- 9 Stocks That Play Rising Water Costs: Strategists
- Weis' Deal Likely Won't Change Big Money Contracts
- Gold Prices Can Double in 3 Years: Portfolio Manager
- Nov. 23: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Help Wanted—Please Run $4 Billion University
- Apple Comes to AT&T's Rescue
MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Why Amazon Rules Retail
- Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- JAL Slides to Record Low on Bankruptcy Jitters
- Prepare For Large Decline In Stocks, Next Year?
- Paul: Audit the Fed
- Hewlett-Packard Profit Rises, Matches Guidance
- Holiday Travel Outlook
- The Social Media Gaming Threat
Text Size 
A new study and an editorial in a major medical journal could reignite the debate over whether drugs or stents or a combination of both are better for the millions of Americans with heart trouble.
Last year, the clinical trial named by the acronym "Courage" concluded that cheaper, older drugs worked just as well as expensive stents—the tiny wire mesh tubes that prop open clogged arteries—in treating patients who regularly get angina or chest pain.
Now, researchers have tried to measure the quality of life of patients in the controversial Courage study. They report in "The New England Journal of Medicine" that the patients who got stents had a small but significant improvement over those who just took pills including aspirin and medications for high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood thinners.
But the doctors say the increase in quality of life in the stent patients diminished over time and eventually evened out with the patients taking drugs.
And an editorial that goes along with that report strongly urges doctors to first put their patients with so-called stable angina on drugs before putting in a stent.
Another follow-up study to Courage on the cost effectiveness of drugs versus stents is set to be published in a different medical journal next month. The timing of the reports is set against the backdrop of the presidential campaign where healthcare costs are a big issue.
Johnson & Johnson [JNJ
Loading...
()
], Boston Scientific [BSX
Loading...
()
], Medtronic [MDT
Loading...
()
] and Abbott Labs [ABT
Loading...
()
] make the highly-profitable stents. The U.S. and Canadian governments paid for the study, along with several major pharmaceutical companies.
Print
Email
- The show attracts a big TV audience every year, but this year it may take on even more importance.
- …you'll want to be prepared. Tips for getting the most out of the post-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy.
- Congressman Ron Paul explains to Squawk Box why he’s pushing legislation to audit the Federal Reserve.
- CNBC’s Phil LeBeau took a test drive of GM’s flagship electric car. Here’s what he thought of the Volt.
- The energy company Power Efficiency is building tools that regulate the power electric motors use.
- CNBC’s technology reporter Jim Goldman guides you through the best gadgets to buy this holiday season.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes