Jacksonville, Fla. – Sixty-four-year-old William Rees of West Palm Beach was one of the first patients in the nation to participate in the Compassionate Use Program at Shands Jacksonville. Shands is one of four sites in the United States that has been selected by Cordis, a Johnson & Johnson company, to participate in this program for patients with coronary artery disease whose standard therapies have not worked for them.
The Compassionate Use Program, which has not been approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), allows Shands Jacksonville to use a medicinally-coated stent device that in currently ongoing clinical trials is showing potential in the prevention of restenosis (re-narrowing) of coronary arteries after balloon angioplasty or stent placement. Rees first had open-heart surgery in 1986 and since has had multiple attempts at vessel treatment. Prior to the procedure this spring, his only options were open-heart surgery or wait for a coated stent. “My hopes and prayers were that someone would come along with this drug-coated stent,” said Rees.
The re-narrowing of a previously treated artery occurs in approximately 50 percent of all heart patients and often indicates the need for coronary bypass surgery or a second balloon angioplasty. “This drug-coated stent could lessen the number of repeat procedures,” commented Ted Bass, M.D., a University of Florida professor of medicine and chief of cardiology at Shands. “I’m optimistic that it will be used in the future when approved by the FDA.”
Following Rees’ procedure in Jacksonville, the Ohio native now claims he is “feeling great” and hopes to “develop a decent golf swing.” His wife, Merrillyn, believes the drug-coated stent was an answer to prayer. “He was having angioplasty every eight weeks. It was tough,” she recalled. “We hope this procedure will change our lives dramatically.” Bass is confident that this revolutionary coronary artery disease procedure is a favorable treatment option. “Now we have patients who really will be offered, hopefully, very long-term, clinically beneficial treatment.”
For more information about the Compassionate Use Program, call (904) 244-2970.