"FREEDOM Follow-On - CABG Still Bests PCI in Diabetes, Multivessel CAD" - Melissa Foster
The final long-term follow-up report from the landmark FREEDOM trial confirms that patients with diabetes who have multi-vessel coronary artery disease (CAD) live longer with coronary artery brypass grafting (CABG) than with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents, according to a presentation at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. The FREEDOM Follow-On study, which extended follow-up of 943 patients from the original FREEDOM trial to a mean of 7.5 years, showed a greater reduction in all-cause mortality and a greater probability of survival among those who underwent CABG vs. PCI, said Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, director of Mount Sinai Heart and physician-in-chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital. “It’s a critically important point to note that, while it’s 50 percent of the original cohort, the other 50 percent are not patients whom we lost. Rather, these are 25 institutions that committed themselves to having outpatients be followed in a randomized fashion.”
— Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Professor, Medicine, Cardiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Director, Mount Sinai Heart, Physician in Chief, Mount Sinai Hospital
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