Heart Test May Be Overused
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Heart Test May Be OverusedHeart Test May Be OverusedA widely used test to detect blockages in the heart'sFingerprint Time Attendancearteries often turns up little or no evidence of disease, a new study found, suggesting that patients are frequently exposed unnecessarily to the risks and costs of the invasive examination.The test is a called a coronary angiogram, #xin which cardiologists thread a catheter into the heart to take an X-ray movie to look for obstructions that might cause chest pain or increase the risk of a heart attack. More than a million U.S. patients undergo the diagnostic test each year at a cost of about $10,000 each, according to government data. In cases where significant obstruction is found, the test helps doctors determine whether a patient should undergo coronary bypass surgery or have a stent implanted to alleviate the problem.The new study, published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine, is based on data on nearly 400,000 angiograms performed between 2004 and 2008 that 633 hospitals in the U.S. submitted to a registry maintained by the American College of Cardiology. The patients weren't previously diagnosed with heart disease,google优化,#x but because of symptoms,Fingerprint Time Attendancefamily history or other reasons ended up getting the test. Such patients represent about 20% of all people who are referred for angiograms, researchers said.The study found that 62% of the patients didn't have evidence of significant obstructions, while 38% had important blockages, researchers found. In all, 39% were determined not to have coronary-artery disease."The rate of obstructive disease isn't as high as we had hoped," said Manesh Patel, a cardiologist at Duke University's Duke Clinical Research Institute, who led the study. "Our process of diagnosing coronary artery disease needs improvement."Dr. Patel and other cardiologists cautioned that the results don't apply to patients with established disease or, especially, with severe chest pain where there is concern for an imminent heart attack. For such patients, getting an urgent angiogram can be a crucial step in treatment.Moreover, a "normal" test doesn't automatically indicate an angiogram wasn't necessary, doctors said.Fingerprint Time AttendanceA finding of an absence of disease can be important information for both doctors and patients. #xFor patients with persistent unexplained symptoms, for instance, ruling out heart disease can be reassuring and steer clinicians to other possible causes.相关的主题文章：
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