The combination of propping open narrowed heart arteries with stainless-steel mesh cylinders and the clot-busting drug abciximab prevents some deaths and heart damage in cardiac patients.

Topol, E.J. . . . A.M. Lincoff, et al. 1999. Outcomes at 1 year and economic implications of platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa blockade in patients undergoing coronary stenting: Results from a multicentre randomised trial. Lancet 354(Dec. 11):2019.

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Leon, M.B., et al. 1998. A clinical trial comparing three antithrombotic-drug regimens after coronary-artery stenting. New England Journal of Medicine 339:1665.

Lincoff, A.M., et al. 1999. Complementary clinical benefits of coronary-artery stenting and blockade of platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptors. New England Journal of Medicine 341:319.

CAPTURE Investigators. 1997. Randomised placebo-controlled trial of abciximab before and during intervention in refractory unstable angina: The CAPTURE study. Lancet 349:1429.

EPILOG Investigators. 1997. Platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor blockade and low-dose heparin during percutaneous coronary revascularization. New England Journal of Medicine 336(June 12):1689.

EPISTENT Investigators. 1998. Randomised placebo-controlled and balloon-angioplasty-controlled trial to assess safety of coronary stenting with the use of platelet glycoprotein-IIb/IIIa blockade. Lancet 352(July 11):87.

John A. Bittl
Ocala Heart Institute
1511 Southwest First Avenue
Ocala, FL 34474

A. Michael Lincoff
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
9500 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44195

E. Magnus Ohman
Duke University Medical Center
DUMC 3151
Durham, NC 27710

From Science News, Vol. 156, No. 25 & 26, December 18 & 25, 1999, p. 389. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.