Drug said as effective as surgery for heart ills
BOSTON, July 7 (Reuters) - For people with mild heart
disease and high cholesterol levels, treatment with the
cholesterol-lowering drug atorvastatin is just as effective as
angioplasty, Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine said.
Researchers found a 36 percent reduction in heart-related
problems among people who took the drug compared with people
treated with angioplasty, the surgical technique where an
inflatable balloon is used to reopen closed arteries.
Although the difference in outcomes in the two treatment
groups was not statistically significant, the new findings
suggested that people can use drugs instead of surgery to ward
off symptoms of heart disease, researchers said.
Atorvastatin, whose side effects can include constipation,
flatulence and abdominal pain, was not directly compared with
the several competing anti-cholesterol drugs. It is sold under
the brand name Lipitor by Parke-Davis, a division of
Warner-Lambert Co. <WLA.N>
Parke-Davis paid for the study and five of the nine top
authors have ties to the drug maker.
Led by Dr. Bertram Pitt of the University of Michigan
School of Medicine, the group used 341 volunteers at 37 medical
centers in North America and Europe, all of whom were slated
for angioplasty because one or two of the blood vessels feeding
their heart had narrowed. About half the patients were given
the drug instead.
After 18 months, 13 percent of the atorvastatin recipients
had a heart attack or stroke, had their chest pain worsen, or
needed some type of heart surgery. The rate for the same
problems among the angioplasty recipients was 21 percent.
"Until the results of additional long-term trials in a
larger number of patients are available, aggressive lipid
lowering with atorvastatin appears to be as safe and as
effective as angioplasty and usual care," the Pitt team said.
REUTERS
Rtr 17:58 07-07-99 |
