( NEW ORLEANS March 26 2007 /PRNewswir...)Cypher Sirolimus-eluting Coronary Stent Had Similar Results to,Bypass Surgery in Long-Term Study of Patients With Multi-Vessel,Coronary Artery Disease,Health

NEW ORLEANS, March 26, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Three-year follow-up data presented today at the of Cardiology's 56th Annual Scientific Session (ACC.07) showed that the CYPHER(R) Sirolimus-eluting Coronary Stent had results comparable to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG or bypass surgery) in patients with blockages in two or more vessels, one of the most complex patient populations examined to date with any drug-eluting stent.

The Arterial Revascularization Therapy Study II (ARTS II Study) is an extension of the ARTS I Study, which was conducted in 1997 and compared the results of bare-metal stents (BMS) to those obtained with bypass surgery. Sponsored by Cordis Corporation, the ARTS II Study includes 607 patients from 45 European centers treated with the CYPHER(R) Stent. Investigators compared the findings for these patients to those from the ARTS I Trial, which included 605 patients treated with bypass surgery and 600 treated with a BMS.

After three years of patient follow-up, the ARTS II Study continued to show similar rates of survival from major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) for the CYPHER(R) Stent and bypass surgery. This finding is significant as MACCE -- comprised of death, stroke, myocardial infarction (heart attack) and the need for revascularization (re-treatment) of the blocked artery -- was the primary endpoint of the ARTS II Study, which was designed to assess whether the CYPHER(R) Stent was as effective as bypass surgery.

"Physicians are continuing to evaluate how to best treat and improve the quality-of-life of patients with multi-vessel coronary artery disease," said Patrick W. Serruys, M.D., Ph.D., from Thoraxcenter, Erasmus Medical Center in The Netherlands, and the presenter of the findings today at ACC.07. "The ARTS II three-year data suggest that percutaneous procedures using the CYPHER(R) Stent provided similar results to bypass surgery
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