WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many heart patients with severe but stable conditions and frequent medical intervention to open clogged and narrowed arteries will reach the same result by taking medications and changing their lifestyle, US researchers said on Monday.
"Their proposals, if adopted in medical practices, could save hundreds of millions of dollars a year on health care for heart patients," the researchers said.
The government-sponsored study, costing about $ 100 million, was presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association in Philadelphia in the largest study of its kind, looking at whether there is an added benefit of actions to restore normal blood flow in stable heart patients for more treatment. A reservation, such as taking aspirin, cholesterol-lowering drugs, and other measures.
Experts say that "many cardiovascular doctors are reluctant to change this approach to some extent, because patients who get stent arteries feel immediate improvement."
"About 500,000 people are diagnosed each year with a stable condition of coronary artery disease, which causes narrow artery pain in the chest, especially after exercise," said Dr. Judith Hutchman, a cardiologist at the Langon Center at New York University. Exposure to emotional stress ».
"There is always a fear that if you don't do something quickly they will have a heart attack and die." But the seven-year study, involving 5,179 patients, did not show much benefit for rapid surgical interventions. But interventional therapies have already improved symptoms and the quality of daily life for those who have frequent chest pain. During the study, everyone received lifestyle medications and counseling, and about half of the participants added intervention. At the beginning of the study period, the intervention group actually experienced more heart-related problems than the group receiving medications only, but that changed in the fourth year, and in the end there were no significant differences between the two groups.
"These results do not apply to all heart patients," Hutchman said. "If someone has a heart attack, the stents are life-saving."