PCI reduces need for additional drug even when blockages remain

This study does provide an important message for people who have residual disease following angioplasty,” said lead author Karen Alexander, M.D., professor of medicine at Duke and director of safety surveillance at the DCRI. “For patients who had angina prior to angioplasty, they were mostly asymptomatic following the angioplasty even though coronary blockages remained.” Alexander and colleagues had set out to address whether the drug ranolazine, when added to standard medications in this population, would reduce symptoms along with hospitalizations and procedures over time. Ranolazine works at the heart muscle to lessen the effects of coronary blockages and to ease the pain of angina. Patients with a history of chronic angina were enrolled in the RIVER-PCI study following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), which is also known as angioplasty, a common procedure used to unblock narrowed coronary arteries and improve blood flow to the heart.  Following angioplasty procedures, many patients still have residual disease in one or more of the coronary arteries, also referred to as incomplete revascularization. The patients were randomly assigned to receive either ranolazine or a placebo.  Patients were followed to determine whether they needed repeat cardiac procedures or hospitalizations. For most of the 2,389 patients who completed quality-of-life questionnaires at intervals throughout the first year of the study period, angina improved markedly. In both groups, th...
Source: DukeHealth.org: Duke Health Features - Category: Pediatrics Tags: Duke Medicine Source Type: news