A study of nearly 2,400 patients with both Type 2 diabetes and stable heart disease indicates that drug therapy is equally as effective as angioplasty or bypass surgery when it comes to reducing mortality rates.
The Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes study, which compared the effectiveness of two kinds of drug therapy against angioplasty and bypass surgery in 2,368 patients, showed virtually no difference in five-year survival rates between the revascularization group and the drug therapy group.
The study also showed no significant difference between patients who received insulin-providing drugs and those who got insulin-sensitizing drugs.
But in patients who received bypass surgery, there was a significant reduction in major cardiovascular events compared with patients who received drug therapy alone.