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NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital now offers the revolutionary new CYPHER® Coronary Stent, the first drug-coated stent to receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of blocked coronary arteries. The new stent, which was approved on April 24, dramatically decreases the likelihood of restenosis, or re-blockage, of the coronary artery.

Results of large-scale studies, led by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center, among others, and involving nearly 1,400 patients worldwide, show that the CYPHER Stent reduces the incidence of restenosis by more than 90 percent over a bare metal stent; the new stent also achieves a near 70 percent reduction in the target vessel failure. Restenosis, which occurs in as many as 15 to 30 percent of patients who receive bare metal stents, can require coronary artery bypass surgery and additional angioplasty procedures.

Our research demonstrated that the CYPHER stent will benefit all patients necessitating stents, and especially those patients with challenging case histories, such as previous surgeries, stated Dr. S. Chiu Wong, Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center and Associate Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.

The CYPHER Stent is nothing short of a re-invention of the stent, and is sure to be the new standard of care, added Dr. Wong.

NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center was one of 53 medical centers, and one of only two New York City medical centers, that were part of the landmark SIRIUS clinical trials that led to the recent FDA approval of the CYPHER stent.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital — at its two major centers, Columbia University Medical Center and Weill Cornell — performs approximately 2,700 angioplasties per year. Of these, 80 to 90 percent involve the use of a stent. Both centers are offering the new stent.

We are pleased to provide this advanced stent therapy in our community and be one of the first hospitals in the United States to offer this effective treatment to patients, said Dr. Mark Apfelbaum, Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at NewYork-Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons.

Coronary stents are metal wires (stainless steel or metal alloy) that are used to remove blockages of heart arteries. The stents are wrapped around a balloon in a deflated state and surgically advanced to the coronary artery blockage. Once placed near the clogged area, the balloon is inflated and the stent expands, pressing the blockage tissue against the wall of the artery, and restoring the blood supply to the heart muscle.

The CYPHER stent, which manufactured by the Cordis Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson company, is coated with the drug rapamycin (sirolimus), which is slowly released into the vessel wall, to prevent scar tissue growth through the openings in the stent mesh, which frequently leads to restenosis. Dr. Andrew R. Marks, Director of the Center for Molecular Cardiology at Columbia University Medical Center, pioneered the study of rapamycin, demonstrating that the drug prevents restenosis.

Approximately 11 million Americans have coronary artery disease, a blockage of the blood vessels that deliver oxygen to the heart.