Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Coronary-Stenting Abuse Cases Highlighted in Bloomberg Story

Reported by theheart.org - Medscape Cardiology

Coronary-Stenting Abuse Cases Highlighted in Bloomberg Story:
NEW YORK, NY — An article in yesterday's financial press surveys recent high-profile cases of alleged coronary-stenting overuse, described by a sources as "just the tip of the iceberg," and alternates them with stories from some of the patients involved[1]. Although there are a few comments from leaders in the cardiology community that try to put the cases in perspective, the 3500-word story ultimately portrays a subspecialty too often abused by practitioners bending or ignoring the guidelines in pursuit of procedure-based profits.
"When stents are used to restore blood flow in heart-attack patients, few dispute they are beneficial," notes the story from reporters Peter Waldman, David Armstrong, and Sydney P Freedberg published yesterday in Bloomberg BusinessWeek . But heart attacks account for only about half of stenting procedures, it notes.
"Among the other half —elective-surgery patients in stable condition—overuse, death, injury, and fraud have accompanied the devices' use as a go-to treatment," the article says, citing "thousands of pages of court documents and regulatory filings, interviews with 37 cardiologists and 33 heart patients or their survivors, and more than a dozen medical studies."
Coronary stenting "belongs to one of the bleakest chapters in the history of Western medicine,” the article quotes Dr Nortin Hadler (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill).



'via Blog this'

No comments:

Post a Comment