Major study of carotid stents may help local medical device makers

[MedCity News, March 15, 2010] For years, the medical community has debated the merits of traditional surgery versus relatively new carotid stent therapy. American studies have favored the stent while European trials offered less favorable judgments on the technology.

“It’s gone back and forth,” said Dr. David Tubman, director of interventional neuroradiology at Abbott Northwest Hospital in Minneapolis.

But CREST is significant for two reasons, Tubman said: CREST was primarily funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes, which gives it more credibility that previous company sponsored trials. CREST is much larger than older studies–critics tend to dismiss those trials as being too small to produce meaningful data, he said.

Read the entire story at medcitynews.com.