Minerva

Women who undergo repeated abortions in Canada share a number of characteristics, apart from failure of contraception, or not using it. In a study reported in CMAJ (2005;172: 637-41) a history of physical, sexual, or violence abuse is relatively common, as is a history of sexually transmitted disease, making the times when women present with an unwanted pregnancy a good opportunity to screen for violence and sexual abuse.

The short term benefits and safety of sirolimus-eluting coronary stents are well known. But now data are available, collected over three years in a multi-center trial of 238 patients randomized to receive either conventional stents or coated stents. Coated stents are associated with a sustained clinical benefit and low levels of major adverse cardiac events. The rate of adverse events at three years was 15.8% compared with 33.1% in patients assigned to conventional stents (Circulation 2005;111: 1040-4).

Another—but arguably higher risk—stenting strategy is more prone to problems. A study in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (2005;129: 645-51) analyzed four year follow-up data from patients with acute thoracic aortic rupture. Endovascular stent grafting …