Nowadays, after a heart catherization proves a patient has a clogged artery, it is customary for a stent to be done immediately to prop open up the cartery. They have become the norm here in the United States. But, what if what we have been thinking is the best option, ultimately is not?
According to an article found at Huffington Post, older patients with clogged heart arteries may have a lower death risk over time if they get bypass operations instead of angioplasty and stents to fix the problem, new research suggests.
Researchers compared these approaches using records on 190,000 Medicare patients with two or three blockages – the largest study ever of this issue. Death rates were similar one year after either treatment. But after four years, nearly 21 percent of the angioplasty patients had died versus about 16 percent of those who had bypass surgery.
Study results were discussed at an American College of Cardiology conference in Chicago and published online by the New England Journal of Medicine.