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Recent cardiac surgical patients cleared for other procedures after six weeks

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, November 30, 2004

Patients who've recently undergone cardiac procedures aren't necessarily persona non grata at ASCs or other surgical facilities-provided their heart surgery is at least six weeks behind them, according to a new study.

Outpatient Surgery Magazine reports that a study released this month by researchers from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York states that patients who undergo intracoronary stenting (ICS) or percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) can safely undergo non-cardiac surgical procedures within six weeks. The study included 104 patients who underwent 108 noncardiac surgical procedures.

Previously, strong concerns existed of ICS and PCI patients suffering stent thrombosis during subsequent surgical procedures. But the overall rate of stent thrombosis in the patients studied was considerably lower than previous studies, and Dr. W. Lane Duvall, of Mount Sinai, told the online Doctor's Guide that  "With meticulous attention to anti-platelet therapy and more current stenting techniques, noncardiac surgery within 6 weeks of PCI is safe."

However, doctors do still encourage patients who've recently undergone cardiac surgery, and their doctors, to understand the risks that do remain and to limit post-cardiac procedures when it is possible to do so. "It is still important to weigh the risk against the benefit of doing surgery, and that depends on the urgency of the procedure," said Alice Jacobs, MD, president of the American Heart Association.

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