Elective angioplasties are not exactly life-saving procedures, according to a
report (PDF) released last month from the American Medical Association and the Joint Commission.
The report listed percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) as one of five highly overused medical interventions. And with stent procedures basking in the media spotlight after President George W. Bush’s announced cardiac intervention, experts are again harping on the overuse of heart stents.
A
New York Times blog highlighted a 2007
study published in The Annals of Internal Medicine that found some doctors performed elective PCIs because it would alleviate patient anxiety or worries about guilt if they didn’t operate and a patient had a heart attack later.
Among four proposals in the AMA/Joint Commission study was a push for “increased awareness through education that an elective PCI may not be the appropriate treatment in certain circumstances.”