Research will be reported at TCT 2007, the annual scientific symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), that demonstrates that early intervention saves lives in women who have a heart attack or unstable chest pain.
Responding to media reports of recent studies that emphasized the dangers of angioplasty in women compared to men, Dr. Alexandra J. Lansky, MD, Director of the Angiographic Core Laboratory and the Women's Cardiovascular Health Initiative at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, said that the comparison to men overshadows the true benefit to women of early intervention.
“Recent news reports suggest that women do not fare as well as men following angioplasty. However, a cumulative view of the research on this topic overwhelmingly indicates that early intervention does benefit women, and in fact, prevents death and heart attacks,” said Alexandra J. Lansky, MD, Director of the Angiographic Core Laboratory and the Women's Cardiovascular Health Initiative at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation.
A national expert on the topic of interventional cardiology in women, Dr. Lansky is the medical director of www.hearthealthywomen.org and is the lead author of the American Heart Association Statement on Interventional Cardiology in Women.
“We should be comparing interventional strategies in women to other therapies in women, in order to determine whether or not they are beneficial. The comparison to men is largely irrelevant,” Dr. Lansky said.
Dr. Lansky will be speaking on this and other topics pertaining to women's heart health at TCT 2007 during the “Optimizing Care for Women with Cardiovascular Disease” lunchtime workshop on at Monday October 22 from 12:15-1:30 pm. TCT 2007 is being held at the Washington, DC Convention Center. Dr. Lansky is co-chairing this session with Alice Jacobs, MD former president of the American Heart Association.