A recent study published in Circulation shows that patients who take their medication faithfully have dramatically better long-term outcomes, regardless of whether they have CABG or PCI. However, among the non-adherent group, CABG patients fared better with fewer major adverse cardiac events in the years after surgery.
This study utilized data collected in 2004 from eight community hospitals. Investigators followed nearly 1,0000 CABG patients and over 2,000 PCI patients up to 7 years after discharge, looking at survival, number of cardiac events, and revascularization procedures in this period.
“This study shows how important it is to get to know your patients and find out how well they comply with medication,” says Paul Kurlansky, MD, who led the study and is currently director of research for Columbia HeartSource. “After the SYNTAX and PARTNER trials, we know that some of these decisions are best made by a heart team with surgeons and cardiologists working together to decide the best therapeutic approach for each patient. This information is key to that discussion.”
Dr. Kurlansky says medication compliance should be an important focus in future studies. “It’s important to update this outcomes study taking into account third-generation drug eluting stents and micro-coronary bypass surgery.”
More information here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27777293
Columbia’s Cardiac Surgery program is top in the New York area and third in the nation.