DES – Drug Eluting Stents

Drug eluting stents (DES), commonly known as drug – coated or medicated stents, are tiny metal scaffold like structures inserted into the coronary artery heart after the balloon angioplasty to prevent artery closure. These stents are coated with medications intended to thwart reblocking of the artery or restenosis. Popular manufacturers of stents include Medtronic, Boston Scientific and Cordis. These stents are increasingly used with their market sales rising to $ 5 billion every year. However, they have been associated with severe side effects such as severe allergic reactions, essential long-term anti- platelet medicine in order to prevent thrombosis and thrombosis. The medicated stents are also associated with higher death rates because of several cardiac events like heart attack when compared to the metal stents without any drug coating.

DES Associated with Severe Side Effects

It is $ 6 billion per year industry and more than six million American patients have been treated with drug-eluting stents (DES) after undergoing balloon angioplasty surgery. However, recently, DES treatment has come under fire because of dangerous side effects associated with it including higher risk of cardiac events such as cardiac arrest, severe allergic reactions, thrombosis and enforced dependence on various anti platelet medicines such as Plavix.

Defining DES

Drug-eluting stents, commonly called drug coated or medicated stents, were discovered due to the common side effect or complication associated with balloon angioplasty surgery in which the coronary artery becomes weak and is on the verge of collapsing. Stents are a metallic metal tube or scaffold inserted into the coronary artery by surgeons to prevent collapse. The further advancement in this technology led to the introduction of drug coating in which the stents were coated with medicinal agent to prevent restenosis (reblocking) by the delivery of drugs released timely in the blood stream.

Antiplatelet drugs designed to prevent clotting of the blood within the arteries for at least six months accompany DES therapy. Plavix and Ticlid are two common drugs that ensures that reblocking does not occur during the period in which the cells of heart grows over the stent and also allows it to grow into the structure of the coronary artery.

The stents were used for the first time in the year in 1986 in France. However, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved the first metal stent in 1994. Drug coated stents were used for the first time in late 1990’s. Since then their popularity increased and they grew into multi billion dollar industry. Doctors prescribe them to more than six million patients every year in the United States. American manufacturers of stents include Cordis, Medtronic and Boston Pharmaceuticals. This drug is also marketed and manufactures in Europe.

Drug Coated Stents Side Effects

In spite of their ever growing popularity, drug coated stents have been associated with various severe side effects including higher risk of cardiac events such as heart attack or even death, serious allergic reactions and thrombosis (blood clotting). The FDA warned the patients of United States about the severe side effects associated with the Cordis CYPHER stent in the year 2003 after the usage CYPHER stent caused death of some patients because of acute thrombosis (blood clotting). It is a condition in which blood cells collects and form clots around the stent preventing or stopping the passage of blood through the artery.

Additionally, according to a study conducted in Switzerland in 2006, revealed that patients with drug-coated stent are at an increased risk of developing injuries or even death. They may even experience heart attack after inserting a DES device. Moreover, increased events of non – cardiac conditions such as cancer, stroke and lung disease were found in some patients implanted with stent.

Stent thrombosis is a condition in which the blood clot forms in the artery and restricts the flow of blood. It is one of the most dangerous side effects of DES treatment. This risk also comes with non- drug coated metal stents, however, there has been a disturbing trend in the coated stents in which the patients experience a cumulative and linear rate of thrombosis over a period. The medication released from the stent causes delayed healing and increases the risk of developing thrombosis at the site of the stent. In the year June 2006, Boston Scientific admitted that the studies conducted by it showed an increase in stent thrombosis with its drug coated stent product, meaning that most of the drug-coated stents might have this serious side effect.

Life long dependence on the anti platelet drugs is another side effect of drug coated stent. As patients are generally put on the Plavix and other similar anti thrombosis drugs following a stent insertion, they are exposed to the side effects and complications of those drugs also. It includes a wide range of symptoms such as strokes, chest pain, allergic reactions, gastrointestinal bleeding, rashes, flu-like symptoms and failure to undergo undergo surgery in life threatening conditions because of drug’s anti clotting and blood thinning effects.

Legal Advice

If you or your loved one has experienced any side effects because of drug coated stent insertion then immediately contact a knowledgeable medical device attorney who will help you in filing a lawsuit against the company. He will further help you in evaluating your claim and suggest you whether you are eligible for the potential claim and inform you whether you qualify for other benefits like monetary compensation pain and sufferings, future medical care and other expenses related with it.