Boston Scientific tests new stent

Boston Scientific Corp., a Natick-based medical device maker, announced today the start of a clinical trial to evaluate a new generation of stents.

Stents are wire-mesh tubes used to keep open arteries that have been unclogged during medical procedures; stents are an important product for Boston Scientific.

The company said it is testing Taxus Element Stent, which features a new design and a Platinum Chromium Alloy, a material specifically designed for stents.

The stent being tested is drug-eluting - that is, the wire mesh tube is a coated with a drug intended to reduce the rate at which the arteries can reclog.

There has been recent debate in the medical community about whether drug-eluting stents are safer and more effective than bare metal stents that aren't drug coated.

In a statement today, Dean J. Kereiakes, the principal investigator for the Taxus Element Stent trial, said, "With the innovative design of the Taxus Element Stent System, we anticipate seeing a significant advancement in the performance offered in a drug-eluting stent."

Kereiakes is the medical director at the Christ Hospital Heart and Vascular Center and the Lindner Research Center in Cincinnati.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)