Experts at the ESC convention in Munich Germany stated that for patients with clogged arteries, the choice between bypass surgery or an angioplasy depends on the number of procedures they wish to undergo. Both procedures offer similar results; however, those who opt for angioplasties are twice as likely to undergo another one within a year.

Dr. Heinz Drexel, professor of medicine at the University of Innsbruck in Austria and spokesman for the European Society of Cardiology said that if a patient doesn't want to have another heart operation over the course of ten years, bypass surgery is the way to go.

The two options do seem to be at extremes, with bypass surgery requiring opening the chest and rerouting blood vessels to detour around blockages. Angioplasty is a nonsurgical procedure in which a balloon is pushed into a blood vessel to flatten the blockage, leaving a stent to prop the artery open.

In a new study, European doctors found that after only a year, patients who had surgery had only a slightly lower death rate than those who opted for angioplasty. Among surgery patients, the death rate was 3.5%, while in angioplasty patients, the rate was 4.3%.

Among patients who chose angioplasty, almost 14% needed another procedure after a year, compared to 6% of surgery patients. Patients who had surgery had about a 2% stroke risk versus nearly zero risk for patients who had an angioplasty.

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