Study Finds Most Angioplasties Unnecessary

Eddie Farah

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You are having chest pains and emergency room doctors believe it's a heart attack.
Most commonly they turn to angioplasty - a procedure that inserts a tiny balloon into a block heart artery and inflates it so a stent can be permanently placed there.
A new landmark study says about half a million of these procedures are unnecessary--the results could be as easily achieved with drugs.

The findings will be published in the April 12th New England Journal of Medicine. Angioplasty is not found to be better at saving lives or relieving chest pain, which is why it's done in the first place.

In the study 2,287 patients in the U.S. and Canada were studied. All had heart conditions and all were given drugs.

Half of the participants also were assigned to get angioplasty. After an average of 4½ years, the groups had similar rates of death and heart attack: 211 in the angioplasty group and 202 in the medication group -- about 19 percent of each. Heart-related hospitalization rates were similar, too.

Stent makers are furious about these results claiming they are "rigged." Stock was down for stent-maker Boston Scientific about 8% today.

Expect more animosity between doctors who believe in stents and those who take these findings seriously.