Aggressively Lowering Cholesterol Benefits Bypass Patients in Study

Aggressively lowering cholesterol in people who have had bypass operations can help prevent their arteries from reclogging, according to a multicenter study. About 400,000 Americans have bypasses each year to reroute blood around clogged heart arteries, but the patients often need repeat surgery when the arteries clog up again.

In a study of 1,351 patients who had undergone bypasses, half received very aggressive treatment to reduce cholesterol and half received only moderate treatment. In five years of follow-up, the team reported in the Jan. 16 New England Journal of Medicine, only 27% of those in the aggressively treated group suffered reclogging, compared to 39% of those in the moderate group.