 |
|
|
|
|
Heart Patients Seek Guidance on Stents, Statins
|
| | | | Related Healthscout Videos | |
|
Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Finally, there was more good news at the ACC meeting on the role of LDL ("bad") cholesterol-lowering statins. Use of one such drug, Crestor, helped keep plaque from settling in arteries, a study found. Another trial found that the prompt use of Lipitor in the emergency room boosted the long-term survival of patients after heart attack.
Statins typically come with very few side effects, raising the question of whether everyone over a certain age might someday take them.
Like many heart doctors, Siegel is a big supporter of statins, which he called one of the "foundations" of current therapy aimed at lowering heart risks. But he said he doesn't recommend them across the board to patients.
Text Continues Below
"Let's say you have an LDL cholesterol of 108 -- a little bit over the 100 'desirable' range but less than [the more dangerous] 130," he said. "Now, if you have a family history where your grandparents are alive at 98, and nobody's ever had heart disease, I wouldn't even think about prescribing it," Siegel said. "On the other hand, if your father dropped dead at 42 of a heart attack, I don't care what your cholesterol is, I would put you on a statin."
The bottom line, according to Siegel, is that big clinical trials are great, but every patient is unique.
"There's not a 'large group of patients' sitting across from my desk, or on my exam table," he said. "It's an individual."
More information
For more on spotting and treating heart disease, head to the American Heart Association.
Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
|
Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 3/30/2007
|
|
SOURCES: Raymond Gibbons, M.D., president, American Heart Association, and professor, medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minn.; Stephen Siegel, M.D., cardiologist, New York University Medical Center, and clinical assistant professor, New York University School of Medicine, New York City; Arthur Agatston, associate professor, medicine, University of Miami School of Medicine; March 23-27, 2007, presentations, American College of Cardiology annual meeting, New Orleans
|
.gif)
