Coronary artery disease and PCI: the TIME and TRUST trials

Elderly patients with angina pectoris despite standard drug therapy should be offered invasive therapy even though they have a high risk profile, Professor Matthias Pfisterer from University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, told delegates at the 23rd Congress of the European Society of Cardiology [Stockholm, Sweden; September 2001]. In the TIME* study, about three quarters of patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) could be revascularised.** Furthermore, mortality, myocardial infarction (MI) and hospitalisation for unstable angina or impending infarction occurred in significantly fewer patients who received invasive therapy, compared with those who received standard medical treatment. Results from another study show that a stent coated with silicon carbide ['Tenax-XR'] may benefit certain subgroups of patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) undergoing PCI. In the TRUST* study, the combined incidence of mortality, MI and target lesion revascularisation showed a significant 4.7% reduction in patients classified as Braunwald class IIIb who received 'Tenax-XR', compared with those who received an uncoated control stent.