Angioplasty

BARCELONA - Working up a sweat may be even better than angioplasty for some heart patients, researchers say. Studies have shown heart patients benefit from exercise, and some have shown that it works better than surgical procedures. At a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology yesterday, several experts said doctors should focus more on persuading their patients to exercise rather than simply doing angioplasties. Angioplasty is the top treatment for people having a heart attack or hospitalized with worsening symptoms.

Heart disease patients with clogged coronary arteries often face two options to clear blockages if their heart medications don't control their symptoms: bypass surgery, which involves making a large incision in the chest to reach the heart, or minimally invasive angioplasty, where a catheter wire is threaded into the artery via a tiny incision. While the recuperation from angioplasty is far easier than from bypass, a study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that bypass might offer a survival advantage.

MINNEAPOLIS - A procedure used to clear clogged arteries is done inappropriately in more than one in 10 patients getting elective treatment, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The report is the first to examine whether the procedure known as angioplasty meets new guidelines for appropriate care. It found almost everyone needing urgent care to restore blood flow to the heart, such as those having a heart attack, received proper treatment, while 12 percent of those getting elective care might not have needed the procedure.

Heart disease patients with clogged coronary arteries often face two options to clear blockages if their heart medications don't control their symptoms: bypass surgery, which involves making a large incision in the chest to reach the heart, or minimally invasive angioplasty, where a catheter wire is threaded into the artery via a tiny incision. While the recuperation from angioplasty is far easier than from bypass, a study published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that bypass might offer a survival advantage.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Gerald Ford underwent his second heart procedure in a week at the Mayo Clinic when stents were placed into two of his coronary arteries to increase blood flow, his spokeswoman said yesterday. The angioplasty on the 93-year-old former president was successful, and he was resting comfortably in his room at the hospital in Rochester, spokeswoman Penny Circle said in a statement. On Monday, doctors at the clinic had fitted Ford with an implantable pacemaker to regulate his heartbeat.

CHICAGO — Landmark research that should have changed the way doctors treat millions of heart patients with clogged arteries has had little effect — many still don’t first try medicines that sometimes eliminate the need for costly, invasive procedures, a study suggests. The 2007 research — front-page news when it was published — showed that intensive drug treatment in nonemergency patients with chest pain worked as well as angioplasty in preventing heart attacks, improving survival, and relieving discomfort in the long run. To measure the research’s impact, the new study...

People with chronic chest pain who are not in big danger of a heart attack now may have even less reason to rush into an artery-opening angioplasty: There's more evidence drugs should be tried first and often are just as effective. The slim early advantage for angioplasty at relieving pain in these non-emergency cases starts to fade within six months and vanishes after three years, according to a new report from a landmark heart study. That is sooner than the five years doctors estimated last year after their first analysis of the study.

CHICAGO - Is it safe to have your arteries unclogged at a hospital that lacks heart surgeons who can operate if something goes wrong? Many states ban this except in emergencies such as heart attacks. But more small hospitals are trying it in non-urgent cases, and the largest study ever done on the practice, released yesterday, suggests that it may not be as risky as has been feared. If confirmed by other ongoing studies, it could change policies in many states. That would mean money for community hospitals struggling to stay profitable and options for...

A large study finds that it is OK to have a non-emergency procedure to open clogged heart arteries in a hospital that doesn't have surgeons ready to operate if something goes wrong. The results could help make this much more available in rural areas and at smaller community hospitals. The procedure, called balloon angioplasty, has become so safe that surgical backup is no longer needed when treating low-risk, simple cases, doctors say. Only about 20 states allow this now, and hospitals in some areas have sued so they can offer...

MILWAUKEE - A new study gives fresh evidence that many people with clogged heart arteries are being overtreated with stents, and that a simple blood-flow test might help prevent unnecessary care. Fewer deaths, heart attacks, and repeat procedures occurred when doctors implanted fewer of these tiny artery props, using the blood-flow test to decide when they were truly needed, the study found. Results were published in today's New England Journal of Medicine. Several reports in recent years have suggested that stents and artery-opening...

A large study finds that it is OK to have a non-emergency procedure to open clogged heart arteries in a hospital that doesn't have surgeons ready to operate if something goes wrong. The results could help make this much more available in rural areas and at smaller community hospitals. The procedure, called balloon angioplasty, has become so safe that surgical backup is no longer needed when treating low-risk, simple cases, doctors say. Only about 20 states allow this now, and hospitals in some areas have sued so they can offer it. "The intent of this project was not to expand...

Using minimally invasive angioplasty to reopen clogged arteries and insert stents in patients with stable heart disease doesn't extend life or prevent future heart attacks any better than medications such as baby aspirin or cholesterol-lowering statins. Yet 173,000 such patients have angioplasties with stents every year in the United States, according to a recent study. The research, published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that 12 percent of elective stent procedures performed in heart disease patients were clearly inappropriate and...

MINNEAPOLIS - A procedure used to clear clogged arteries is done inappropriately in more than one in 10 patients getting elective treatment, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The report is the first to examine whether the procedure known as angioplasty meets new guidelines for appropriate care. It found almost everyone needing urgent care to restore blood flow to the heart, such as those having a heart attack, received proper treatment, while 12 percent of those getting elective care might not have needed the procedure.

CHICAGO — Landmark research that should have changed the way doctors treat millions of heart patients with clogged arteries has had little effect — many still don’t first try medicines that sometimes eliminate the need for costly, invasive procedures, a study suggests. The 2007 research — front-page news when it was published — showed that intensive drug treatment in nonemergency patients with chest pain worked as well as angioplasty in preventing heart attacks, improving survival, and relieving discomfort in the long run. To measure the research’s impact, the new study...

NEW ORLEANS — Two new studies could change care for hundreds of thousands of heart patients each year. One finds that bypass surgery has been overrated for many people with very weak hearts from clogged arteries and previous heart attacks. The other challenges the way artery-opening procedures have been done for decades. It was the first big test of doing balloon angioplasty to clear heart arteries through an arm instead of a leg. Complications were fewer with the arm method, and at hospitals that did this more often, deaths, heart attacks,...

NEW YORK - Bill Clinton, who had quadruple bypass surgery more than five years ago, was hospitalized yesterday to have a clogged heart artery opened after suffering discomfort in his chest. Two stents resembling tiny mesh scaffolds were placed inside the artery as part of a medical procedure that is common for people with severe heart disease. The 63-year-old former president was “in good spirits and will continue to focus on the work of his foundation and Haiti’s relief and long-term recovery efforts,’’ said an adviser,...

Wall Street analysts and many doctors expect another potential setback for stent makers when results of a blockbuster study Tuesday answer whether an artery-opening procedure plus drugs is better than medication alone for lower-risk heart patients with chest pain. It's the first big study to directly compare angioplasties with drug therapy alone as a way to prevent heart attacks and deaths in nonemergency cases. If the research reaches the conclusion many analysts and doctors expect -- that angioplasty offers little or no lifesaving benefit over drugs for these patients -- the...

CHICAGO -- A new study finds that heart attack sufferers who go to hospitals on nights and weekends wait longer for an artery-clearing angioplasty than patients during regular hours, increasing their risk of dying. After-hours patients waited an average of one hour and 56 minutes for what is considered the best treatment for heart attacks in most cases, compared with one hour and 35 minutes for patients during regular business hours. Current guidelines recommend patients wait no longer than one hour and 30 minutes from the time they enter the emergency room.

BARCELONA - Working up a sweat may be even better than angioplasty for some heart patients, researchers say. Studies have shown heart patients benefit from exercise, and some have shown that it works better than surgical procedures. At a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology yesterday, several experts said doctors should focus more on persuading their patients to exercise rather than simply doing angioplasties. Angioplasty is the top treatment for people having a heart attack or hospitalized with worsening symptoms.

MILWAUKEE - A new study gives fresh evidence that many people with clogged heart arteries are being overtreated with stents, and that a simple blood-flow test might help prevent unnecessary care. Fewer deaths, heart attacks, and repeat procedures occurred when doctors implanted fewer of these tiny artery props, using the blood-flow test to decide when they were truly needed, the study found. Results were published in today's New England Journal of Medicine. Several reports in recent years have suggested that stents and artery-opening angioplasty procedures were...