A study released Wednesday representing the first big match-up between Boston Scientific Corp.'s (BSX) Taxus Liberte drug-coated heart stent and the Xience stent made by Abbott Laboratories (ABT) showed fewer serious events for Xience patients after a year.

The single-hospital study of 1,800 patients in the Netherlands may prove important because Abbott-funded clinical trials - including one released earlier Wednesday - have shown the Xience stent outperforming an older stent from Boston Scientific that has essentially been replaced by Taxus Liberte. Unlike clinical trials that hand-pick patients and may omit certain complications, the "Compare" study from the Netherlands tracked patients with all sorts of heart-artery problems as they came through the door.

Such studies can shed light on how devices work in "real-world" conditions, although they may not have the same rigor as carefully controlled clinical trials conducted at multiple sites.

The Compare study was presented during the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics conference in San Francisco alongside the larger Spirit IV study, which showed Xience outperforming the older Taxus Express device at one year.

Compare's main goal was to track a combination of serious events including death, non-fatal heart attacks and retreatment of the previously treated artery. On this measure the rate for Xience at one year was 6.2%, compared with a 9.1% rate for Taxus Liberte. Study investigators credited fewer cases of early stent-related clots and less need for retreatment among Xience patients.

Boston Scientific also gets a cut of the Xience business, since it sells the Abbott-made stent under the name "Promus" and a profit-sharing deal. Sales of the home-grown Taxus Liberte stent are worth more to Boston Scientific, however.

-By Jon Kamp, Dow Jones Newswires; 617-654-6728; jon.kamp@dowjones.com