The results of a recent study suggest some elderly diabetics with heart disease shouldn’t receive angioplasties.
Research performed by Dr Mark Hlatky of the Stanford University School of Medicine revealed that some people with type-2 diabetes and mild heart disease may not benefit from receiving an angioplasty. Hlatky and his team believe taking the right medications can be a more cost-effective way to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in diabetics.
"For patients with relatively mild symptoms of heart disease, angioplasty is clearly more expensive and it’s clearly not more beneficial," said Hlatky.
"Modern medical therapy is really effective and works just as well as angioplasty for a lot of patients."
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) says the coronary angioplasty is a medical procedure in which a balloon is used to open a blocked artery. Hlatky claims many doctors think such an operation is the only way to open a blocked artery, which isn’t always the case.
Furthermore, treating patients with medicine can present less risk than performing surgery, although the NIH says angioplasties rarely involve complications.
© Copyright
