RESULTS
Study Population and Treatment
Between May 16, 2005, and January 30, 2010, a total of 5322 patients were screened, and 947 were randomly assigned to stenting plus medical therapy (467 patients) or medical therapy alone (480 patients) (Figure 1FIGURE 1
Screening, Randomization, and Follow-up.
). The reasons for nonenrollment of screened patients are shown in Figure 1 and in Table S2 in the Supplementary Appendix. One center was found during monitoring to have obtained consent from some participants after study procedures were initiated. That site was terminated from the study, and the 16 participants at that site were withdrawn from the study, owing to issues of scientific integrity relating to informed consent and the eligibility of participants. All study data are reported for the remaining 931 trial participants.
The two groups were well matched at baseline (Table 1TABLE 1
Baseline Characteristics of the Study Population, According to Treatment Group.
). Among the 472 patients in the medical-therapy group, 19 crossed over to stenting. A total of 12 crossovers were not approved by the crossover committee; 7 were approved because they occurred after the patients had had a primary end-point event. Participants were followed for a median of 43 months (interquartile range, 31 to 55).
Stenting and Periprocedural Events
Stents were placed in 434 of the 459 patients in the stent group (94.6%) and resulted in a mean (±SD) reduction of the stenosis from 68±11% to 16±8% (P