FRIDAY, Nov. 17, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) improves symptoms versus placebo among patients with stable angina and taking no chest pain medication, according to a study published online Nov. 11 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2023, held from Nov. 11 to 13 in Philadelphia.
Christopher A. Rajkumar, M.B.B.S., from Imperial College London, and colleagues compared PCI versus placebo for angina relief in patients who were not receiving antianginal medication. The analysis included 301 patients randomly assigned to PCI or placebo with 12 weeks of follow-up.
The researchers found that at follow-up, the mean angina symptom score was 2.9 in the PCI group versus 5.6 in the placebo group (odds ratio, 2.21). Unacceptable angina occurred in one patient in the placebo group, resulting in unblinding. Four patients in the PCI group experienced acute coronary syndromes versus six patients in the placebo group.
“Going forward, patients and medical teams have a choice of two pathways for chest pain relief: chest pain medication or PCI,” coauthor Rasha Al-Lamee, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., also from Imperial College London, said in a statement. “The key finding of this trial is that it is the first therapy initiated that seems to have the maximum effect. Although PCI is neither risk-free nor cost-free, its use as an upfront procedure can now be considered evidence-based.”
The study was funded in part by Philips.
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