[Economic implications of the various treatment methods in myocardial ischemia]

Modern treatments of myocardial ischaemia are effective. Surgical coronary revascularization involves high immediate expenditures, but these are tempered by a subsequent reduction in medical consumption and costs. Coronary angioplasty is a more comfortable revascularization procedure than bypass surgery which it increasingly tends to supersede. The overall health expenditures involved are about 20% lower than those of surgery. Treatment of incipient infarction has recently been introduced. Its generalization implies a reorganization of medical care and a major increase in expenditures. To what extent this increase will be upset by the benefits of avoided or limited infarction can only be determined by detailed and accurate evaluation.