Study Finds Stents Effective in Preventing Strokes
Reviewed By
Rating
Study Finds Stents Effective in Preventing Strokes
Our Review Summary
Immediately – in the second sentence – this story raised doubts about the North American study more forcefully than the LA Times story ever did. And it immediately offered the perspective that these "disparate findings…could help determine whether Medicare expands coverage to cover the stent procedure." The context was deeper, the balance better in this story.
Why This Matters
While we don’t want our health coverage to devolve into "he said, she said" between research camps, good reporting has to present opposing views when reasonably justified by the evidence.
Criteria
Not Satisfactory
Although it hints at potential implications of expanded Medicare coverage for stents, this story doesn’t make any explicit reference to costs.
Satisfactory
The story does a satisfactory job of presenting the major findings using the appropriate statistics. Like the LA Times, however, this story suggests that the disparate findings of the two studies might be explained by the better training and experience of the American CREST surgeons compared with their European counterparts in the ICSS trial. We wish it had spent some time exploring whether the typical patient in the U.S. can expect to receive the kind of expert care offered by the top CREST surgeons. In many cases, the "real-world" outcomes of patients will be less favorable than what the CREST team reported.
Satisfactory
As with the LA Times coverage, this story gives us the key essentials regarding what happened to patients in both studies and their risk of major complications such as stroke or heart attack.
Not Satisfactory
The story put appropriate emphasis on the fact that these were large, well-conducted studies that are likely to have a big impact on patient care, However, it should have included a caveat about the preliminary nature of the CREST study results, which were presented at a scientific meeting and have not yet been peer reviewed.
Satisfactory
No disease-mongering here.
Satisfactory
It would have been nice to see some perspective from someone who was in no way affiliated with either of these studies–something which the LA Times, in its defense, did provide in its coverage. Nevertheless, in the hierarchy of sourcing priorities, we felt it was most important that the coverage include some kind of European perspective to counterbalance the American voices advocating for stents. The New York Times managed to get a hold of the lead investigator for the European ICSS trial. He made a pretty good case for why one might think twice before opting for a stent instead of open surgery.
Not Satisfactory
This story doesn’t give enough attention to the question of whether one should intervene at all in asymptomatic patients. It states that surgery "has been shown to be more effective than medical therapy alone" for preventing strokes, but it is not clear that this is true for asymptomatic patients.
Satisfactory
The story states that surgery has long been considered the best treatment for obstructed carotid arteries, and that Medicare is considering expanding coverage to include stents. Readers can reasonably assume from these statements that both treatments are widely available.
Satisfactory
It’s clear from the story that both of these approaches have been in use for quite some time.
Satisfactory
This story is not based on a press release.
Total Score: 7 of 10 Satisfactory
Comments
Please note, comments are no longer published through this website. All previously made comments are still archived and available for viewing through select posts.
Our Comments Policy
But before leaving a comment, please review these notes about our policy.
You are responsible for any comments you leave on this site.
This site is primarily a forum for discussion about the quality (or lack thereof) in journalism or other media messages (advertising, marketing, public relations, medical journals, etc.) It is not intended to be a forum for definitive discussions about medicine or science.
We will delete comments that include personal attacks, unfounded allegations, unverified claims, product pitches, profanity or any from anyone who does not list a full name and a functioning email address. We will also end any thread of repetitive comments. We don”t give medical advice so we won”t respond to questions asking for it.
We don”t have sufficient staffing to contact each commenter who left such a message. If you have a question about why your comment was edited or removed, you can email us at feedback@healthnewsreview.org.
There has been a recent burst of attention to troubles with many comments left on science and science news/communication websites. Read “Online science comments: trolls, trash and treasure.”
The authors of the Retraction Watch comments policy urge commenters:
We”re also concerned about anonymous comments. We ask that all commenters leave their full name and provide an actual email address in case we feel we need to contact them. We may delete any comment left by someone who does not leave their name and a legitimate email address.
And, as noted, product pitches of any sort – pushing treatments, tests, products, procedures, physicians, medical centers, books, websites – are likely to be deleted. We don”t accept advertising on this site and are not going to give it away free.
The ability to leave comments expires after a certain period of time. So you may find that you’re unable to leave a comment on an article that is more than a few months old.
You might also like