This commentary on the United Kingdom heart artery disease guideline is enlightening “……emphasising instead lifestyle modification, such as smoking cessation and exercise, and optimal medical therapy as the mainstays of treatment. The guideline puts general practice firmly at the centre of angina management and, once the diagnosis has been established (usually in the chest pain clinic) it can be the GP who supervises ongoing medical management.
Patients should be referred back for further cardiological assessment and consideration of revascularisation (only) if symptoms fail to respond to treatment. Adherence to specific secondary prevention drugs and attention to factors such as blood pressure control, smoking cessation, and lifestyle measures are key to long-term outcomes for patients with stable angina.”
You have learned from this site that optimal medical therapy is the most effective treatment for heart artery disease. It is simple, reduces contact with the medical system, reduces fragmentation of care, and reduces cost. The British live longer for half the impact on Gross Domestic Product. This approach means they can cover everyone for half the money. It means you can provide better care for patients with cardiovascular and related conditions in your primary care clinic without referrals. This is especially important for rural and disadvantaged communities. When will we make that approach widely available here?
Yeah, we definitely can do MUCH MUCH better than what's in the "mainstream" American Legacy Medicine Kabuki Dance Theatre in the detection/prevention of cardiovascular disease and ALL other chronic illnesses.
Since 1997, all but one, my only patient, in his early eighties, needed a referral to see a cardiac surgeon for his increasingly tight aortic stenosis combined with a left central critical stenosis, for a successful bypass plus valve replacement open heart surgery to stop his progression to heart failure, following years of my preventive measures. THE SURGEON, BTW, WAS DR. Oz, believe it or not!
I managed all my patients using my Multifunction Cardiogram Technology to detect, measure, and monitor their cardiovascular diseases early, followed by lifestyle optimization and secondary optimal pharmaceutical treatments to maintain and reverse their condition. None of them need coronary interventions at all! Everyone is still with me. Even though I closed my practice in 1998 to pursue the creation of the world's first Multifunction Cardiogram Technology platform, they refused to leave and kept in touch; for that, I am grateful and, of course, charging nothing for my services.
So, yeah, there is a much safer, cheaper way to manage cardiovascular diseases without the high costs and dangerous interventions. Lives can be saved at much lower prices without the deaths or sufferings associated with coronary artery interventional procedures.
Oh, a follow-up, none of my patients had to declare bankruptcy due to high medical costs. We can do much, much better without bankrupting the country for it!