The Hindu Business Line : Faulty stents

It is shocking to note that the drug-coated heart stents that are already inside the blood vessels of thousands of heart patients have failed to meet the objectives of a pivotal study, subsequent to which the manufacturer has withdrawn the stents from the market (Business Line, May 11).

According to a recent study in The New England Journal of Medicine, March 2007, the insertion of stents into stable heart disease patients is found to be not beneficial in most cases. This finding has rocked a $6-billion worldwide industry and the multi-crore business in India, where stents are widely used. Imagine the agony of thousands of patients who spent about Rs 2 lakh each to get a stent procedure done, only to their detriment.

There is evidence to support that cardiac procedures are unduly promoted out of business interest. An editorial in the medical journal cited above points out that cardiac procedures generate billions of dollars in revenues each year. A high volume of procedures brings prestige and financial rewards for hospitals, physicians and the vendors of medical equipment." The degeneration of "modern medicine "into" "business medicine is well borne out by the above observations.

One study of 60,000 bypass surgeries done in the US revealed that only 14 per cent did get survival benefit ranging from three months to four-and-a-half years. The big chunk of 86 per cent did not get any significant lease on life. In reducing the incidence of coronary artery disease, the beneficial effect of lifestyle modification has been found to be 59.4 per cent whereas that of interventional methods has been only 3.4 per cent.

Dr T. Rama Prasad

Dr T.R. Rajeev

Dr G. Geeth Raj

Perundurai

Letters to the editor and contributions can be sent by e-mail to: bleditor@thehindu.co.in