More than 1000 patients with blocked coronary arteries in India have got a new lease of life with the help of a new generation, drug-eluting stent inserted in the course of angioplasty, the manufacturers of the device said here recently.

Introduced by Cordis, a Johnson and Johnson company, the stent has proved remarkably successful in preventing reblocking of coronary arteries. This represents a major advance over the earlier generation of coronary stents, and is achieved with the help of a drug known as Sirolimus.

Clinical trials in the US have shown that Sirolimus can reduce the frequency of reblockage of coronary arteries to 3.2 per cent, compared to 20-30 per cent for conventional stents.

Dr Jeffrey W Moses, one of the principal investigators at Lenox Hill Hospital, New York reported last month that the Cordis version is the only drug-coated stent whose performance is supported by two large scale, randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical studies.

The multi-center clinical studies, covering over 1,000 patients for over two years, were conducted by some of the best cardiac experts at leading heart care centers in the US, Europe and other countries.