( BARCELONA Spain May 22 2007 /PRNews...)Cypher Sirolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent Had Similar Results to,,,Bypass Surgery and Better Outcomes Than Bare Metal Stents in,,,Subgroup Analysis of Diabetic Patients With Multivessel Coronary,,,Disease,Health

BARCELONA, Spain, May 22, 2007 /PRNewswire/ -- A three-year follow-up subset analysis presented today as a late-breaking clinical trial at EuroPCR 2007 showed that the CYPHER(R) Sirolimus-eluting Coronary Stent had results comparable to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG or bypass surgery) and better outcomes than bare metal stents (BMS) in diabetic patients with blockages in two or more coronary arteries.

The CYPHER(R) Stent results in the diabetic population of the ARTS II Study showed no significant difference in major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) compared to the CABG arm of the ARTS I Study (27.7 percent versus 17.7 percent, respectively; p = 0.10). In addition, the analysis showed that the CYPHER(R) Stent performed significantly better than the BMS arm of the ARTS I Study, as 47.3 percent of the patients who received a BMS experienced a MACCE event after three years (p < 0.001). These findings are significant as MACCE -- comprised of death, stroke, myocardial infarction (heart attack) and the need for repeat revascularization (re-treatment) of the blocked artery -- was the primary endpoint of the ARTS II Study.

Sponsored by Cordis Corporation, the ARTS II Study was designed to determine whether the clinical and cost-effectiveness outcomes with the CYPHER(R) Stent in 607 patients with multivessel coronary disease were non- inferior to the results obtained in the ARTS I Study, which was conducted in 1997 and included 605 patients treated with bypass surgery and 600 patients treated with a BMS. In the diabetic subgroup analysis, investigators compared the findings for the 159 diabetic patients in the ARTS II Study to those from the ARTS I Study, which included 96 diabetic patients treated with bypass surgery and 112 treated with a BMS. The risk profile of the patients in the ARTS II Study was significantly higher
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