![]() That’s how the mind works.”īut many patients and doctors swear it works. “Patients always feel better when we do an invasive procedure. Now after 40 years, millions of procedures, and billions of dollars, doctors are questioning whether the common procedure is, in most nonemergency cases, doing much less good than previously believed, if any. Data in The Lancetshowed that among people with severe blockage of the coronary arteries, the procedure did not improve angina-the reason for nearly 500,000 PCI procedures worldwide every year-or ability to exercise on a treadmill. “Your doctor” may be wrong in doing so, though, according to a controversial study published last week that, if widely accepted, has the potential to change the course of medicine. Your doctor might suggest angioplasty as a treatment option when medications or lifestyle changes aren’t enough to improve your heart health, or if you have a heart attack, worsening chest pain (angina), or other symptoms.” Atherosclerosis is the slow buildup of fatty plaques in your heart’s blood vessels. He and many others have watched as their patients tend to report less chest pain, more energy, better stamina, and “all sorts of benefits.” As the Mayo Clinic tells readers of its site, “Angioplasty is used to treat a type of heart disease known as atherosclerosis. “When we tell a patient, look, we ‘fixed’ you, this has an immense positive effect,” said John Mandrola, a cardiac electrophysiologist in Louisville, Kentucky. The narrow area is wide open, and blood is flowing freely. Immediately, the vessels look better on the X-ray images. The vessels can be held open with a metal tube that expands over the balloon, known as a stent. The cardiologist then feeds a small balloon over that wire and inflates it, forcing open the blood vessels at the point of narrowing. In the span of 45 minutes or so, the looming cardiologist watches a screen as real-time X-ray images show the wire going up to the heart, traversing vessels to reach the coronary arteries. Today the procedure is done around a million times each year in the United States alone. The point is to open up arteries that have become clogged and hardened by years of life-to reverse and improve the symptoms of heart disease. ![]() You are conscious and comfortable, if not necessarily calm.įor nearly half a century, cardiologists have been performing angioplasty, or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). A doctor stands over you and feeds a long wire up the inside of your body, from your groin into your heart.
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