Age no barrier to successful surgery for chest pain

People age 75 and older can withstand surgery to treat chest pain, and feel better sooner than if they are treated with gentler drug regimens, Swiss researchers have reported. And those getting bypass surgery or angioplasty to clear clogged arteries are less likely to have a heart attack or other serious cardiac event, the researchers found.

“People older than 75 years represent the fastest-growing population segment in the Western world, and heart and blood vessel disease is the most prominent cause of death and disability in this age group,” said Dr. Matthias Pfisterer, of University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland, who led the study.

The team studied 301 patients, average age 80, with clogged arteries restricting blood flow to the heart. Half received bypasses or angioplasty, and half got medication including aspirin, statins to lower cholesterol, and angiotensin-converting enzyme, or ACE, inhibitors to improve blood pressure.

Reporting in last week’s journal Circulation, published by the American Heart Assn., Pfisterer and colleagues said 91.5% of patients who got heart bypass surgery or angioplasty were alive six months later, as were 95.9% of those on drugs alone.

Of the patients who got bypasses or angioplasty, 39% had no heart attack for five years and no need for further surgery or angioplasty, compared with 20% of those given drugs alone.