Bypass Surgery Preferred Over Angioplasty for Diabetics

For most people, bypass surgery and balloon angioplasty are about equally effective at reducing the risk of heart attack and death. For diabetics, however, bypass surgery is dramatically better, according to a study in today’s New England Journal of Medicine. The study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh looked at 641 diabetics and 2,962 non-diabetics who had been treated with one of the techniques.

About 5% in each group had a first heart attack within the succeeding five years. Among the diabetics, the differences in survival were dramatic: Only 17% of those who had undergone bypass surgery died after a heart attack, compared with 80% of those who had received angioplasty. Diabetics with heart disease usually have much more extensive clogging of the arteries than non-diabetics, so that surgery is more effective in clearing them.

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Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II