Dr.  Michael Ring, recently presented a poster session on behalf of his co-authors: Ken Daratha, Robert Short, Denise Dominik, Lynn Shuler and Katherine Tuttle, for the 2008 American College of Cardiology (ACC) Conference in Chicago, Il. His topic was "Two Year Safety and Revascularization Outcomes Following Coronary Artery Intervention with Bare Metal Stents Versus Strategies of Selective or Predominant Drug Eluting Stents in a Community Setting".

The poster presentation represented the work of their current study completed at Providence Medical Research Center and Sacred Heart Medical Center. The study compared the outcome of individuals who had received a bare metal stent with those who had received drug eluting stents. Patients were tracked for a minimum of 2 years following the placement of the stent, using a regional hospital electronic record.

Data collected included:

• Medical history including a baseline or initial medical monitoring including angiography and details of the procedure for how the stent was placed,
• Acute complication rates, including myocardial infarction (heart attack) and death.
• Discharge status including, medications and length of stay 
• Socioeconomic data

Post-discharge follow-up data included:

• All causes of death.
• Cardiac events: myocardial infarctions, repeat percutaneous interventions and coronary artery bypass revascularization rates.
• Hospitalization rates with particular emphasis on bleeding-related hospitalizations.

Prior to the ACC meeting, Dr. Ring presented the study results at the Sacred Heart Medical Center Cardiovascular Grand Rounds:

Current Status of Drug-Eluting Stents including a Report on 2 Year Safety and Revascularization Outcomes in >6000 Coronary Stent Patients at SHMC March 2008