NATICK, Mass. and NEW ORLEANS, April 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ —
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:
BSX) today announced results from a pooled patient-level
analysis of its PERSEUS and TAXUS ATLAS clinical trial data,
demonstrating differences in safety and efficacy outcomes favoring
the next-generation ION™ Platinum Chromium (PtCr)
Paclitaxel-Eluting Stent System (TAXUS® Element™)
compared to the currently available TAXUS® Liberte®
Paclitaxel-Eluting Stent System.  Results were presented at
the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Sessions by
Dean Kereiakes, M.D., Medical Director at The Christ Hospital Heart
and Vascular Center and The Lindner Research Center in Cincinnati
and Principal Investigator for the PERSEUS clinical program.

“Although the ION and TAXUS Liberte Stents employ the same drug
and polymer, the ION Stent demonstrated significantly lower rates
of major adverse cardiac events (MACE), target lesion failure (TLF)
and myocardial infarction (MI) in this case-matched analysis of
nearly 2,300 patients,” said Dr. Kereiakes.  “This study
demonstrates that alloy composition, stent design and strut
thickness may influence angiographic and clinical outcomes
following drug-eluting stent deployment.”

The study compared pooled patient-level data from 2,298 patients
enrolled in the PERSEUS (ION Stent) and TAXUS ATLAS (TAXUS Liberte
Stent) trials.  Propensity score matching was performed to
adjust for differences in patient and lesion characteristics
between the groups, and clinical follow-up was conducted out to 12
months.  Propensity-matched results in 1,326 patients revealed
that the ION Stent achieved significantly lower rates of MACE (7.5
percent vs. 12.0 percent, p=0.007) and TLF (5.5 percent vs. 8.5
percent, p=0.04) largely driven by a reduction in myocardial
infarction (1.8 percent vs. 3.9 percent, p=0.

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