Revascularization benefits

New York, July 5, 2000 (Praxis Press) The 6-month results of the FRISC II (Fast Revascularisation during Instability in Coronary artery disease) invasive trial show a reduction in the composite endpoint of death or myocardial infarction, contradicting previous large-scale randomized trials. The recent one-year follow-up of this randomized trial published in the Lancet confirms that the invasive strategy rapidly transforms unstable coronary-artery disease into a stable condition, lowering long-term mortality and reintervention rate, myocardial-infarction risk, and the recurrence of angina and ischemia (see paper). Compared with non-invasive treatment strategy in 100 patients, the invasive approach saves 1.7 lives, prevents 2.0 non-fatal myocardial infarctions, and 20 re-admissions. These findings strongly suggest revascularization as the treatment of choice for most patients with unstable CAD with ischemia, or biochemical markers of myocardial damage.