Science / Medicine : Outpatient Heart Test Could Save Millions

A test commonly performed on heart patients apparently can be done safely in many cases without hospitalization, cutting millions of dollars from the nation’s medical bill each year, researchers reported last week.

The researchers compared 192 patients who underwent cardiac catheterization on an outpatient basis to 189 patients hospitalized for the procedure and found no significant difference in their outcomes.

“We conclude that elective cardiac catheterization as an outpatient procedure for selected patients is feasible and safe,” the researchers wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine.

More than 500,000 Americans undergo the procedure annually in the United States to determine the cause of chest pain or other symptoms. The procedure involves inserting tiny tubes into the heart to evaluate the condition of the muscle and its arteries.

Previous studies found that practice to be safe. But the new study is the first to directly compare inpatient and outpatient treatment.

The study involved stable, relatively young patients who were treated at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester and Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass.