Artery clearing system does not add extra benefit for patients with heart disease

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A device and system that can clear the debris released by artery unblocking procedures does not seem to add any advantage for heart patients.
When someone has an angioplasty - inflation of a balloon inside a blocked artery and placing of a stent to keep it open - the procedure releases debris from the deposits that blocked up the artery. New research has led to development of a device and system that can clear away this debris which would be expected to improve the outcome for these patients.

In a comparison, researchers at Columbia University, New York, assigned a group of patients to distal microcirculatory protection - the procedure that clears away the debris - plus angioplasty or to angioplasty alone. The procedure is meant to protect the microcirculation and so promote survival after an angioplasty. The results showed no obvious benefit to the new system. This is a little surprising. The researchers wonder if this has something to do with the timing of the operation which involves a delay in giving the angioplasty. More research is needed to see how the benefits of distal microcirculatory protection can be realized.

Source
Journal of the American Medical Association 2nd March 2005 Volume 293 pages 1063-1072