According to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, doctors may be performing cardiac catheterization too quickly after learning a patient has chest pain. This type of procedure can be risky because it is invasive, meaning it involves an instrument being inserted into the body. For cardiac catheterization, a thin plastic tube is inserted into a vein or artery to observe blood flow to the heart and check how well the heart is pumping, according to the American Heart Association.
Researchers involved in the study looked at data on almost 400,000 patients who had cardiac catheterization between January of 2004 and April of 2008. None of these patients had a history of heart disease. While about 37.6 percent had a blocked artery, 39.2 percent of the patients in the study had no considerable coronary artery blockage.
In most cases, doctors generally perform a noninvasive test before going forward with a more risky procedure. Of the 400,000 patients involved in this study, roughly 84 percent had a noninvasive test before a cardiac catheterization was performed. However, many of these preliminary tests do not provide adequate data concerning possible blockages.
Heart disease is the number one killer in the nation, and the failure to diagnose a heart attack is the number one medical malpractice mistake. If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice, call or e-mail the medical malpractice attorneys at Silberstein Awad & Miklos today to schedule your free consultation. We have helped clients with Queens cardiac malpractice, Bronx cardiac malpractice, Brooklyn cardiac malpractice and Long Island cardiac malpractice cases.
Call us toll-free, 1-877-ASK4SAM and visit www.ask4sam.net
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