Drug Medical Information

'BYPASS' ON THE DECLINE? THE STUDY'S FINDINGS

The study's findings: 65% of carotid endarterectomies were done for inappropriate or questionable reasons; 17% of the angiograms were clearly inappropriate; as were an alarming percentage of the bypass procedures. When California researchers looked into this same issue, they found nearly half of the patients who had heart bypass operations in three hospitals either should not have had the procedures or could have done as well without them. Only 56 percent of the coronary bypass operations performed in three randomly chosen hospitals were justified. Thirty percent were done for equivocal reasons - meaning they could be argued either way. No wonder many more people are asking questions, getting second and third opinions, seeking alternatives. Although bypass surgery is still a $6 billion a year industry, and the latest figures show increasing numbers of procedures every year from 1979 on, alternative therapies are becoming more popular, especially in the last five years. That's turning out to be a mixed bag. Knife-happy specialists don't give up a procedure until they've latched on to a profitable substitute. As might be expected, dramatic new high-tech procedures have been introduced. Many of these are equally unproven, ineffective, profit-motivated and risky as the bypass they've replaced. Most are enthusiastically prescribed by the very same physicians who only a short time ago heartily advocated the discredited bypass.

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