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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Angioplasty Has Bypassed the Bypass for Treating
Blocked Arteries
Angioplasties almost doubled 1993 to 2005, bypass
dropped fast from 1997
 Oct. 4, 2007 - Percutaneous coronary intervention
(PCI), which used to be known as transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA)
or just angioplasty, a procedure for opening blocked arteries in
patients with coronary artery disease, has bypassed coronary artery
bypass graft surgery (CABG).
PCI, the former angioplasty, is now used nearly
three times more often than the older and more invasive CABG (bypass
surgery), according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality.
AHRQ found that
● The number of angioplasties nearly doubled from
1993 to 2005, rising steadily from 418,000 to 800,000 a year.
● In contrast, heart bypass surgeries rose slowly
from 344,000 to 426,000 a year between 1993 and 1997, and then declined
steadily to 278,000 a year by 2005.
● Although hospital stays in 2005 for angioplasty
are much shorter than they were in 1993 (on average 2.7 days instead of
4.6 days), hospital charges have increased by more than 50 percent
during the period, rising from $31,300 to $48,000 (adjusted for
inflation).
● With 1.1 million hospital stays in 2005,
coronary artery disease was the third most common reason for
hospitalization after childbirth and pneumonia. It was the second
leading reason for men, and the seventh for women.
 More About Percutaneous Coronary Interventions
(previously called Angioplasty, Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary [PTCA],
or Balloon Angioplasty)
Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)
encompasses a variety of procedures used to treat patients with diseased
arteries of the heart, for example, chest pain caused by a build-up of
fats, cholesterol,
and other substances from the blood (referred to as plaque) that can
reduce blood flow to a near trickle, or a heart attack caused by a large
blood clot that completely blocks the artery.
Typically, PCI is performed by threading a slender
balloon-tipped tube a catheter from an artery in the groin to a
trouble spot in an artery of the heart (this is referred to as
percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty also known as PTCA,
coronary artery balloon dilation or balloon angioplasty). The balloon
is then inflated, compressing the plaque and dilating (widening) the
narrowed coronary artery so that blood can flow more easily. This is
often accompanied by inserting an expandable metal stent. Stents are
wire mesh tubes used to prop open arteries after PTCA.
>>
More on PTCA at American Heart Association
More About Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery?
This is a type of heart surgery. It's sometimes
called CABG ("cabbage"). The surgery reroutes, or "bypasses," blood
around clogged arteries to improve blood flow and oxygen to the heart.
Why is this surgery done?
The arteries that bring blood to the heart muscle
(coronary arteries) can become clogged by plaque (a buildup of fat,
cholesterol and other substances). This can slow or stop blood flow
through the heart's blood vessels, leading to chest pain or a heart
attack. Increasing blood flow to the heart muscle can relieve chest pain
and reduce the risk of heart attack.
>>
More on CABG at American Heart Association
This AHRQ News and Numbers summary is based on data
in
HCUP Facts and Figures, which provides highlights of the latest data
from AHRQs Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project on a range of
hospital inpatient care subjects, including leading reasons for
hospitalization, such as childbirth, diabetes, and heart conditions;
weight-loss, cardiac and other surgical procedures; and hospital costs.
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