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The DES debate: Staying focused on our patients
Author(s) -
Weiner Bonnie H.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
catheterization and cardiovascular interventions
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.988
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1522-726X
pISSN - 1522-1946
DOI - 10.1002/ccd.21226
Subject(s) - medicine , food and drug administration , psychological intervention , audience measurement , front line , mainstream , coronary artery disease , medical emergency , law , nursing , cardiology , political science
As I begin my term as President of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, the issue of drug-eluting stent (DES) safety recently has been one of the most widely discussed topics in health care. More than a year after data were released associating the devices with rare cases of late stent thrombosis [1,2] and following recommendations issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that largely supported their ongoing use while calling for additional research [3], both physicians and patients remain concerned about the degree to which DES should continue to be part of the interventionalist’s armamentarium for treating coronary artery disease. These concerns are largely due to the many dramatized headlines we have seen in the mainstream media. It is understandable for patients and their families to become deeply confused when they are bombarded with headlines announcing that individuals with DES have ‘‘ticking time-bombs’’ in their chests. The goal of my first President’s Page is, therefore, to put the controversy into some perspective and to make some suggestions for how we, as the physicians on the front line of this debate, handle the reactions of our patients and our colleagues in our own as well as other specialties.