The 1.2 million people who receive angioplasties each year on a nonemergency basis at an average cost of $40,000 per procedure may be better off taking medications to unblock their arteries and treat chest pain, according to a study report that appeared in the online version of The New England Journal of Medicine. The study of more than 2,000 patients with significant artery blockages found that patients who had angioplasty had rates of death, heart attack, and hospitalizations similar to those of patients treated with drugs, reports the Associated Press. And after five years, both groups were equally free of chest pain. Medications produced outcomes as good as those produced by angioplasty because they unclog all arteries, whereas angioplasty clears blockages on only one artery at a time. Also, angioplasty for nonemergency heart patients doesn’t eliminate the types of artery blockages that typically lead to a heart attack. Angioplasty is, however, the treatment of choice for patients having a heart attack.
In an editorial accompanying the article, Judith Hochman, MD, of the New York University School of Medicine wrote that the study’s results “should lead to changes in the treatment of patients with stable coronary artery disease, with expected substantial healthcare savings.”
