ANGIOPLASTY RISK FOR WOMEN IS CITED

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 9, 1993                   TAG: 9303090171
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DALLAS                                LENGTH: Short
ANGIOPLASTY RISK FOR WOMEN IS CITED
Women are 10 times more likely than men to die in the hospital after undergoing angioplasty, a procedure that uses a tiny balloon to reopen clogged heart arteries, a new study indicates.
Of 2,136 patients who underwent the surgery during 1985 or 1986 at one of 16 medical centers across the United States, four of the 1,590 men and 14 of the 546 women died before leaving the hospital, the study said.
Twelve of the 14 women who died during the procedure were 65 or older, said the study, published in the March issue of Circulation, a scientific journal of the Dallas-based American Heart Association. The journal's publication date is today.
Angioplasty is a popular technique used to restore blood supply to the heart's muscle through the coronary arteries.
It involves inserting a thin tube with a tiny deflated balloon on its tip into a vein or artery in the arm and pushing until the tip reaches a disease-narrowed artery. When the balloon is inflated, the narrowed segment of the artery is dilated or widened.
Dr. Larry Dean of Birmingham, Ala., a cardiologist at the University of Alabama, called the study interesting, but too narrow to warrant sweeping conclusions.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB