A major study of a half-million angioplasties, published today1 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), refutes two major myths about angioplasty and stent use in the United States: myth #1, that angioplasty is vastly overused and unnecessary in most cases; and myth #2, that most angioplasty is used in stable patients and therefore has little or no benefit over drugs in reducing death or heart attacks.
Titled “Appropriateness of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention“, this paper is the first comprehensive look at how closely interventional cardiologists in the U.S. are adhering to the practice guidelines for PCI (angioplasty and stenting) most recently published by the professional cardiology and surgical societies in January 2009. Continue reading
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