No Rush to Bypass Surgery

Patients with severe heart disease are often encouraged to undergo coronary bypass surgery in the hope that this intervention will prolong their lives. A new study in The New England Journal of Medicine shows they don’t have to rush into a decision. Researchers randomly assigned over 1200 patients to undergo heart surgery and take medication or take medication alone. At the end of five years there was not a significant difference in survival between the two groups.
Those who underwent bypass surgery were actually more likely to die during the first two years. After that, however their rate of survival improved and they actually had fewer cardiovascular deaths than those treated with medicines alone. An accompanying editorial concludes that patients and their doctors can take their time to individualize treatment and determine whether the benefits of coronary artery bypass surgery outweigh the risks.
[New England Journal of Medicine, online, April 4, 2011]