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April 7, 2007 -- 6:36pm EDT

New York Times: Angioplasty AND Drugs Are Important
Gina Kolata's must-read entry in the New York Times health series "Six Killers" is in tomorrow's paper (on Easter Sunday?) and it's an important piece. Published online today, "Lessons of Heart Disease, Learned and Ignored", is a welcome addition to the many flawed articles that have hit the popular press in the past two weeks since the results of the COURAGE trial were announced.

Instead of pumping a false comparison about how "drugs are better than stents", or vice-versa, Kolata's piece is not only totally accurate, but a much-needed correction, showing both the importance of compliance with prescribed heart medications, and how angioplasty can literally stop a heart attack in its tracks and save a life.

One of our fears at Angioplasty.Org, one shared by most interventional cardiologists I've spoken to in the last week, is that the onslaught of anti-stent press would send a message to the public that angioplasty doesn't work. Forbes magazine even ran a headline, "Stent Shocker: They Don't Stop Heart Attacks" -- total crap! They do! And Ms. Kolata's article describes just how they do in a very compelling story.

BOTH drug and stents are important therapies. The real problem is that they are unfortunately not being delivered to a majority of the people who need them most -- which is the subject of our latest analysis of the COURAGE trial results.

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