Boston Scientific reports results of Syntax trial

Boston Scientific has announced the results of its landmark Syntax trial assessing safety outcomes for complex patients treated with bypass surgery and Taxus Express2 stents.

The results showed comparable safety outcomes in patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention using the paclitaxel-eluting coronary stent system and those undergoing contemporary coronary bypass surgery.

Boston Scientific announced these results at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology held in Munich, Germany.

The randomised trial was the first of its kind to compare percutaneous coronary intervention using drug-eluting stents with coronary bypass surgery in left main disease and three-vessel disease patients.

It noted these patients have a complex anatomy with more advanced disease than those tested in previous stent trials.

Keith Dawkins, associate chief medical officer of Boston Scientific, said: “For percutaneous coronary intervention patients to do so well with such complex anatomy an advanced disease is extraordinary.”

He added that these were the most challenging patients treated in a clinical trial of drug-eluting stents to date.

In July 2008, Boston Scientific announced its financial results for the second quarter of the year, recording net sales of $2.024 billion (1.011 billion pounds).