Too Many Heart Tests, Study Suggests

Many Americans who have an invasive test called an angiogram turn out to have no significant heart disease, a new study finds. Researchers say this suggests that doctors need better ways to decide who should have the test. During an angiogram, doctors insert a tube into an artery and thread it up to the heart. Dye is injected into the tube. This allows any artery blockages around the heart to show up on X-rays. Researchers looked at records for nearly 2 million angiograms. The study focused on about 400,000 patients. They had some symptoms or other test results that made doctors suspect heart disease. But they did not have known heart disease and weren’t getting emergency heart treatment. The angiogram found no major artery blockages in 62% of this group. The Associated Press wrote about the study March 11. Results appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine.