Study shows drug-coated stents safe

May 7, 2009 Researchers say this latest report in the New England Journal of Medicine should put to rest earlier concerns about these tiny devices and whether they were causing problems for patients.

The study finds that the stents coated with drugs are just as safe as uncoated ones and appear to keep blood flowing to the heart muscle longer.

Stents are tiny mesh tubes used to prop open diseased heart arteries. Drug-eluding stents are covered in medication to prevent scar tissue from clogging up the device.