New research shows that survival rates are not better than those taking pills to fight risks from high blood pressure and cholesterol.

New research has cast doubt on the benefits of bypass surgery for many patients with very weak hearts. Doctors claim the operation did not improve survival rates for those already taking medicines to control risks like high cholesterol and blood pressure.

Clogged arteries cause about two-thirds of the six million cases of heart failure in the U.S. every year.

Open heart surgery is the most common treatment, with vessels taken from elsewhere in a patient’s body and sewn onto the heart to replace clogged ones.

But doctors say any benefit from a bypass now appears small, according to the research presented at the American College of Cardiology conference in New Orleans.

Another study found that people who suffer from serious heart disease could also benefit as much from balloon angioplasty as from a bypass.

The results of a clinical trial of 600 patients who received either angioplasty or a bypass showed similar survival rates and about the same number of issues later like a heart attack or stroke after a year.

Doctors have long debated which method is best for treating the narrowing of the arteries which is the major cause of cardiac attacks.

Angioplasty is less invasive but can require more repeat procedures if the artery keeps on narrowing over the years.

In the study South Korea, doctors also claimed there may be a better way to do heart diagnostic tests and procedures to open clogged heart arteries.

There were fewer complications when these are done through an artery in an arm instead of one in a leg which is common practice.

The arm method is used a lot in Europe, Canada and other countries, but is used in fewer than in five per cent of the procedures in the U.S.

Via Daily Mail