Litigation concern may prompt increase in cardiac testing

Reni Gertner

June 3, 2010

A troublingly high number of U.S. patients who are given angiograms to check for heart disease turn out not to have a significant heart problem, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Every year, more than one million people get an angiogram. About 20 to 30 percent of angiograms are given to patients with risky cardiac traits but mild or no symptoms, according to the study. Nearly two-thirds of these patients were found to have no serious blockages.

Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a Yale cardiologist and health-outcomes researcher who wasn’t involved in the study, said he thinks the problem arises because doctors are afraid of missing something or getting sued.

Some previous reports have found similar results, but the new study is so huge that “we can now feel comfortable these aren’t isolated findings – this is for real,” said Dr. Michael Lauer, director of the division of cardiovascular sciences at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

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