The MSBNC article added, “Several reports in recent years have suggested that stents and artery-opening angioplasty procedures were being overused in non-emergency cases, often without giving medicine alone a chance to work."
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Dr. Robert Harrington (Duke Clinical Research Institute) was quoted within the article to have said, “It's really raised a lot of question about when is it appropriate,” adding that the blood-flow test is “another parameter for us to consider.”
Over one million angioplasties are performed in the United States each year.
However, the blood-flow test is only performed in about 10% of these angioplasties.
The researchers state that a follow-up study is necessary to validate their results that the use of the blood-flow test is helpful for identifying when angioiplasty and steins are needed and when they are not needed.
Additional information on the blood-flow test is found in the December 8, 2004 News-Medical.Net article "Noninvasive test of blood flow response may reveal early coronary disease."
