Study suggests better survival in patients undergoing CABG compared to PCI.

The Wall Street Journal (3/28, Winslow, Subscription Publication) reports that a study presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting and published online in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) may be linked to better survival than percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

        The AP (3/28) reports that investigators "compared these approaches using records on 190,000 Medicare patients with two or three blockages - the largest study ever of this issue." Although "death rates were similar one year after either treatment," the researchers found that "after four years, nearly 21 percent of the angioplasty patients had died versus about 16 percent of those who had bypass surgery."

        Bloomberg BusinessWeek (3/28, Cortez) reports, "The data...stem from one of the first studies conducted using US President Barack Obama's 2009 stimulus funding, which provided $1.1 billion for clinical trials that compare rival therapies."

        The Forbes (3/28, Husten) "CardioBrief" blog reports, "In an accompanying editorial, Laura Mauri writes that "'it is plausible that, in patients with diffuse atherosclerosis, CABG reduces the risk of fatal myocardial infarction more effectively than does focal treatment.'" However, "she expressed skepticism that CABG could be shown to be better in two-vessel disease or in patients with three-vessel disease with focal lesions."

        The NPR (3/28, Knox) "Shots" blog reports that "the study's lead author tells Shots that" the findings "might be enough to 'tip the balance a little bit, but not overwhelmingly so,'" but "the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which funded the study with new 'stimulus' money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is more bullish on the implications." The NHLBI's Dr. Michael Lauer told the blog, "We would hope a study as powerful as this one will inform decision-makers to rethink the direction they're going in." Also covering the story are the CNN (3/28) "The Chart" blog, Reuters (3/28, Kelly), MedPage Today (3/28, Phend), HealthDay (3/28, Gardner), and HeartWire (3/28, Stiles).