Jennifer Matthews: John Bailey can relax today, knowing he's doing everything he can to avoid a second open-heart surgery. Eight years ago, John had a quintuple bypass operation.

John Bailey: Anybody that's been through it once before doesn't want to go through it no more.

Jennifer Matthews: Earlier this year, he had the same kind of chest pain.

John Bailey: It was a grabbing, squeezing type of pain, right in the middle of my chest.

Jennifer Matthews: This time, doctors cleared his blocked arteries with standard balloon angioplasty then inserted special metal stents to keep the arteries open. These new stents are coated with the cancer drug paclitaxel.

Dr. Tift Mann: When we look at these stents six to nine months later with ultrasound, we see a perfectly pristine stent with no scarring.

Jennifer Matthews: In nearly 20 percent of people who get an ordinary stent, scarring causes re-blockage, or restenosis. That happens twice as often with angioplasty alone. But the drug-coated stent showed better results.

Dr. Tift Mann: In our study, the incidence of restenosis, or patients requiring a repeat procedure in the same target vessel, was reduced to less than 5 percent.

Jennifer Matthews: Doctors say that means many more patients should be able to bypass surgery. Good news for John.

John Bailey: Well, I hope to be back to normal and just go.

Jennifer Matthews: As long as it's not back to an operating room. This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.