'When there's no excuse for not knowing and when patients do worse—including death and permanent disability—what should we call it? How can it be considered anything but negligent homicide?'
'Brain stents have been hyped as a miracle in treating stroke patients. The FDA has been approving—even fast-track approving—them since 2005. There's just one problem: They were never seriously tested. So now, six years since their use became common in stroke treatment, a study has finally been done to actually see if they're effective and safe. The results are dramatic. Not only are they useless, stents double the number of strokes patients subsequently suffer.
Brain stents were hailed as a near-perfect treatment in stroke cases. In January, MedicineNet reported that stenting "appears nearly full-proof in unblocking brain arteries".(1) Not only were they being promoted for use in severe strokes, but as this article demonstrates, they were pushed for mild ones, too. In fact, Dr. Italo Linfante, lead author of the study cited, was even promoting use for people at risk for stroke, not only those who had already suffered strokes.'
