EPISTENT
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
One year angiographic substudy results show up to a 60% decrease in mortality for patients randomized to stent placement plus abciximab over patients randomized to stent plus placebo or angioplasty with abciximab, reports Michael Lincoff, MD, Cleveland Clinic, at a Nov. 9 AHA press conference. Commenting on the 900-patient substudy, Lincoff noted: "Mortality is generally something we don't see a significant difference in trials this size because unfortunately death occurs frequently in this population of patients." The substudy hoped to cover as broad a clinical population as possible, he noted. Lincoff reported statistically significant mortality results of 2.4% for the placebo+stent group, 2.1% for the angioplasty+abciximab group, and 1.0% in stent +abciximab group