Editorial on the "Clinical Outcomes Utilizing Revascularization and Aggressive Drug Evaluation (COURAGE) trial," which studied optimal medical treatment with or without percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for stable coronary disease.
Experimental as well as clinical data do not support the hypothesis that atorvastatin or any other statin affects the antithrombotic potency of clopidogrel.
FDA says drug-eluting stents are safe & effective in stable patients with single-vessel disease; even so, they'll have to take Plavix (clopidogrel) & aspirin for a year or more...up to a lifetime. High-risk patients with multivessel disease are much more
We must optimize stent deployment & maintain a registry of how well (or poorly) we use drug-eluting stents. Instead of asking “Which stent?” or “How much anti-platelet therapy?” we must ask “How effectively are we deploying our stents?”