Feb 20, 2016 09:55 AM EST By Rashmi Kalia, UniversityHerald Reporter

A new study suggests that stents are just as effective as surgery for reducing stroke risk, Lighthouse News Daily reports.

This recent study involved researchers from Rutgers University, the Mayo Clinic and the University of Alabama Birmingham and spanned more than a decade.

The study was conducted at 117 medical facilities from North America. The researchers investigated over 2,500 patients, who were treated for arterial clogging either through stents or surgery.

The researchers analyzed how each patient was affected by their treatments over a long period of time.

The results of the study showed that each procedure had a similar outcome in patients.

The results showed that 11.8% of the people who received stents and 9.9% of those who had surgery experienced a heart attack ten years later. Similarly, 6.9% of the participants who had stents and 5.6% of those with surgery experienced a stroke more than a decade later.

Both surgery and stenting are procedures to prevent strokes in those patients who have had transient ischemic attack and in patients who have not had any stroke symptoms within the past six months, according to newswise.

The research study was conducted in two phases. The first phase of the research was called the Asymptomatic Carotid Trial and was conducted over five years, while the second phase was formally titled Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy vs. Stenting Trial and lasted ten years.

The first phase focused on determining whether stents were as safe as surgery when it comes to treating heart and vascular diseases. In the second phase, the researchers followed up on the 2,500 patients about twice a year in order to accurately assess their evolution.

The results of both of the phases proved that both methods, stents and surgery, present similar results.

According to Medicalnewstoday, Principal investigator Thomas G. Brott, said,

"We have two safe procedures. We know now that they are very effective in the long run. Now the patient and the physician have the option to select surgery or stenting, based on that individual patient's medical condition and preferences."

These findings can be found in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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