Domestic medical researchers have developed a new way to treat coronary artery disease.

A research team led by Dr. Park Seung-jung at Asan Medical Center said that people with diseased left main coronary arteries no longer need to undergo bypass surgery. The team said such patients can be cured using stents, or small tubes inserted in the arteries to unblock them.

Based on the results of cardiac surgery on 22-hundred patients, the team said there was no significant difference in the two methods' effectiveness.

The findings have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.