American taxpayers spend more than $800 million annually on unnecessary heart stents, according to a report.
Stents are small mesh tubes placed in weak or narrow arteries and other passages to keep them open in patients with coronary artery disease, widen arteries blocked by plaque, and maintain blood flow.
The new report estimates that one in five stents implanted between 2019 and 2021 were unnecessary because the patient was not at high risk for a heart attack, the Lown Institute, an independent research firm, found.
At about $10,615 per procedure for Medicare — the government’s health insurance plan for people over 65 — that equated to $2.44 billion over three years, or $800 million a year.
Stents are small mesh tubes placed in weak or narrowed arteries and other passages to keep them open
Dr Vikas Saini, cardiologist and chairman of the Lown Institute, said: “The overuse of stents is incredibly wasteful and puts hundreds of thousands of patients at risk.”
The report examined more than 1,700 US general hospitals and found that more than 229,000 stent procedures were unnecessary.
The researchers estimate that between 2019 and 2021, more than 20 percent of stents will be placed unnecessarily.
The report found that stents were unnecessary if patients were diagnosed with coronary artery disease at least six months before the procedure.
Researchers excluded patients diagnosed with unstable angina — chest discomfort or pain caused by insufficient blood and oxygen supply to the heart, which can lead to a heart attack — or who had a heart attack within the past two weeks. as well as patients who have been in the emergency room in the past two weeks.
Northwest Texas Hospital and Riverview Regional Medical Center in Alabama had the highest rates of unnecessary coronary stenting procedures, with more than half of those procedures deemed unnecessary.
Stents can be used to treat narrowed or blocked arteries caused by plaque buildup or coronary artery disease.
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Plaque – a waxy substance containing cholesterol – can build up on the inner walls of one or more coronary arteries. This reduces the space through which the blood must travel.
A significant amount of plaque that blocks blood flow is called coronary artery disease.
Stents are placed in a coronary artery during a minimally invasive procedure called angioplasty.
A patient is sedated and then doctors make a small incision, often along the forearm or in the leg, near the groin.
A thin tube called a catheter is threaded through a blood vessel in the leg and up to the narrowed coronary artery in the heart.
The catheter also contains a collapsed stent that surrounds a special balloon. When the catheter reaches the stent, doctors inflate the balloon, dilate the artery and open the stent. The balloon is then deflated and removed with the catheter.
The procedure usually costs Medicare $10,615, with the patient paying $1,600 out of pocket, the report said.
And privately insured patients pay more. A 2022 study found that heart surgeries cost private insurance companies more than $20,000.
Unnecessary stents can also lead to complications such as blood clots, abdominal bleeding, kidney damage, heart attack or even death.
More than two million stents are implanted in the United States each year.
A 2019 study from Stanford School of Medicine and New York University found that stents appear to be no better than medications for treating heart disease.
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
