some nearly two inches long - can be fixed with such stents, sometimes using overlapping ones. The devices work so well that when an older stent clogs, it's better to put a new drug-coated one inside it than to treat the problem with radiation as has been done in the past, one study found. Competitors also are being developed that could help cut the price of these devices. One novel type even dissolves in the body once its job is done. "It's looking very good," Dr. Gerald Fletcher, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, said of the evidence for drug-coated stents. "The benefit is going to be substantial in the long term."
