First Patient Enrolled In Female Drug Eluting Stent Clinical Trial

Abbott Vascular has enrolled the first patient in their XIENCE V SPIRIT WOMEN clinical trial, which will study the effectiveness of drug eluting (dissolving) stent treatment in women with cardiovascular disease (or CVD). The trial is designed to study how cardiovascular disease differs in women from men.

According to the National Center on Health Statistics, women with CVD are more likely to have fatal results than men, yet "only 33 percent of angioplasties, stents and bypass surgeries; 28 percent of implantable defibrillators; and 36 percent of open-heart surgeries". Because women exhibit different symptoms of CVD that are sometimes more difficult to diagnose, they only comprise a quarter of the demographic of clinical trial patients.

The president of Abbott Vascular is optimistic, believing this eventual cross-section of women with CVD will encourage other women with similar symptoms to seek medical treatment.