'Miracle' angioplasty and stenting procedures for blocked arteries are killers
Medicine’s ‘miracle’ treatments for blocked arteries – such as balloon angioplasty and stents – are proving to be a killer. Patients are being readmitted to hospital just 30 days after treatment, and many are dying.
Around one in 10 heart patients are returning to hospital for emergency treatment following angioplasty or stent procedure. They are also far more likely to die from heart problems in the next 12 months than someone who was treated but didn’t need hospital aftercare.
In a survey of 15,498 patients needing hospital care following a PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention, such as angioplasty or stenting), nearly 10 per cent had had the procedure less than 30 days previously, and, of these, 106 – or 0.68 per cent – died while in hospital.
(Source: Archives of Internal medicine, 2011; doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.569).