Bypass may be better for older diabetics

	Tweet

Heart bypass surgery may be less dangerous for older patients with diabetes than Angioplasty , researchers reported on Thursday.

Overall, there was not much difference, they reported in the Lancet medical journal. But among patients aged 65 to 75 who had diabetes, the bypass surgery was markedly less risky.

The study, paid for by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, is one of a series meant to help doctors and patients choose which treatment they want when several different options are available.

Mark Hlatky of Stanford University in California and an international team of colleagues studied the data from 10 different trials involving more than 7,800 patients.

The studies were all designed to see if there was any difference between bypass surgery, in which a vein is grafted to route blood around a clogged coronary artery, and Angioplasty , in which a blocked artery is stretched or scraped clean or propped open with a mesh tube called a stent.

Overall, 15 to 16 percent of the patients died. But patients with diabetes were 30 percent less likely to die if they got the bypass, Hlatky’s team reported.

“Patients with diabetes, and older patients, might have a significant survival advantage if treated with (bypass),” they wrote.

On the other hand, patients under 55 were 25 percent more likely to die with bypass than with Angioplasty .

None of the trials used the newer, drug-eluting stents, which release medicines designed to keep the blood vessel from closing up around the device.

WASHINGTON (Reuters)

RELATED STORIES:
Phone contact with nurses linked with better outcomes for women with gestational diabetes   Death rate drops among Americans with diabetes -CDC   Correct treatment of common diabetic foot infections can reduce amputations   “Pre-diabetes,” diabetes rising among U.S. teens   Experimental bariatric surgery controls blood sugar in rats with diabetes   53 millions Americans might develop diabetes by 2025   New inflammation hormone link may pave way to study new drugs for type 2 diabetes   Diabetic retinopathy research could reduce screening costs   Liver fat gets a wake-up call that maintains blood sugar levels   Low testosterone levels could raise diabetes risk for men   Prosthetic lets diabetic get a foot up on life   Dealing with Diabetes, One Patient at a Time

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]