Key death data from EXCEL trial of stents and heart surgery held back - BBC Newsnight

Doctors working on a clinical trial for treatment of heart disease held back key data, Newsnight has been told. Subscribe to our channel here: https://goo.gl/31Q53F

The Excel trial tested whether stents were as effective as open heart surgery at treating patients with a heart problem called left main disease.

The data suggested more people fitted with stents were dying after three years.

It was eventually published - but only after treatment guidelines that partly relied on the trial had been written.

These guidelines recommend both stents and heart surgery for certain patients with left main disease.

The authors of the trial said it was carried out rigorously and to accepted academic standards.

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