complications. A new study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and others found that treating only the coronary artery responsible for the heart attack is just as effective as preventive balloon dilation of the other coronary arteries. These findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggest that this approach works well for heart attack patients.
A recent study has explored the most effective treatment strategy for narrowings in coronary arteries that are not directly linked to the vessel that caused the infarction. The study, conducted in Sweden, included 1542 patients from 32 hospitals in 7 countries. The research aimed to determine if treating only the coronary artery responsible for the infarction is sufficient, or if better long-term results can be achieved by also treating other narrowed vessels as a preventive measure using balloon dilation. Data was collected using the SWEDEHEART registry for randomization and data collection.
The procedure was followed up for five years.
The results revealed no difference in the occurrence of new heart attacks, unplanned balloon dilations, or total number of deaths from any cause between the groups.
Felix Böhm, a senior physician at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital at Karolinska Institutet, who led the study, expressed surprise at these findings, stating, ”This is somewhat surprising. Our hypothesis was that it would be beneficial to do preventive angioplasty.”
However, the study did show that it is possible to prevent patients from needing new balloon dilations through preventive treatment when it comes to angina problems. According to the study,
Felix Böhm suggests that the goal should still be to fully treat all blood vessels. “But for patients where complete revascularization is complicated, one might choose to wait, since there was no difference in the most serious complications such as new heart attack and death,” says Felix Böhm. If angina problems arise, these patients can return later for additional treatment. “A positive outcome of the study was that most patients do not return with new issues, regardless of the treatment strategy.”Felix Böhm stated, ”Currently, heart attack patients are effectively treated with medication, making it challenging to find other methods that can further reduce the risk significantly.” The researchers will now explore how angina and other factors affecting the patients’ quality of life were impacted by various treatment strategies, as well as the health economic aspects of the chosen strategy. This research was carried out by Uppsala Clinical Research Center (UCR) at Uppsala University, with Karolinska University Hospital as the legal sponsor. Funding for the study was provided by the Swedish Research Council, Hjärt-Lungfonden, and Region St.The study was conducted by Stockholm, Abbott, and Boston Scientific. These companies did not have any influence on the design of the study analysis of the results, or writing of the article.
