[Mar 28, 2008]

      The "meteoric rise" of angioplasty during the past three decades "has ended," according to several analyses, USA Today reports. Angioplasty, which involves guiding a small balloon through a blocked artery that supplies blood to the heart, has grown into an $8 billion-a-year industry since it was introduced in 1977, according to USA Today.

Between 650,000 and one million angioplasties are performed annually in the U.S., but the analyses, commissioned by USA Today, show that use of the treatment has leveled off and is now declining, most likely as a result of several studies that questioned the procedure's efficacy. Three major studies released in the past two years concluded that using angioplasty to open blocked arteries or to treat chest pain, or angina, could carry more risk and be no more effective than drug treatment alone. The research suggests that angioplasty is used too often and in many cases the procedure does not justify its $10,000 to $12,000 cost.

The USA Today-commissioned analyses of data from 337 hospitals also found that:

• The number of angioplasties performed annually has declined by 10% to 15% over the past two years;
  
  
• The use of angioplasty and stents began falling in June 2006 when results of two studies were announced, questioning the safety and efficacy of the procedure; and
  
  
• Doctors are increasingly using older, bare-metal stents rather than newer drug-coated stents, which have been linked to blood clots.

Despite a decline in use, doctors are conducting a nationwide campaign to make the procedure available within 90 minutes after a patient reaches an emergency department with symptoms of a cardiac event. Researchers will discuss the declining use of angioplasty at the annual scientific session of the American College of Cardiology this weekend in Chicago (Sternberg, USA Today, 3/27).