B-vitamins keep arteries open. (Quick Studies).High doses of three B-vitamins can increase the chances that arteries will stay open after angioplasty balloon angioplasty inflation and deflation of a balloon catheter inside an artery, stretching the intima and leaving a ragged interior surface, triggering a healing response and breaking up of plaque. percutaneous transluminal angioplasty a type of balloon angioplasty in which the catheter is inserted through the skin and through the lumen of the vessel to the site of the narrowing., a popular alternative to coronary bypass coronary bypass n. surgery. In the procedure, doctors insert a balloon into clogged arteries and inflate it to increase blood flow. But restenosis often occurs--that is, the arteries close up again. A surgical procedure performed to improve blood supply to the heart by creating new routes for blood flow when one or more of the coronary arteries become obstructed. The surgery involves removing a healthy blood vessel from another part of the body, such as the leg, and grafting it onto the heart to circumvent the blocked artery. Also called coronary bypass surgery. Of the 205 patients in the latest study, restenosis occurred within six months in 38 percent of those who got a placebo, but in only 20 percent of those taking folic acid folic acid /fo·lic ac·id/ (fo´lik) a water-soluble vitamin of the B complex, pteroylglutamic acid or related derivatives, which is involved in hematopoiesis and the synthesis of amino acids and DNA; its deficiency causes megaloblastic anemia. See tetrahydrofolic acid and folic acid antagonist. (1,000 micrograms microgram /mi·cro·gram/ (µg) (mi´kro-gram) one millionth (10-6) of a gram. mi·cro·gram (m   kr), vitamin B-12 (400 micrograms), and vitamin B-6 (10 milligrams) every day. "This inexpensive treatment, which has minimal side effects, should be considered as adjunctive therapy for patients undergoing coronary angioplasty," say Guido Schnyder and colleagues at the University of California at San Diego Medical Center and elsewhere. What to do: If you're an angioplasty patient, talk to your doctor about taking the B-vitamins used in this study. New Eng. J. Med. 345:1593, 2001. |
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