Duke Heart Laser study
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
A study of the TMR laser by Duke University's Carolyn Donovan, MD, et al., which looked at clinical outcomes for patients with end-stage coronary artery disease, showed 75% of patients improving by one angina class at 6 months post-TMR and 50% showing sustained clinical improvement at one year. The 30-patient study indicates that maximal benefit from the procedure seems to occur at 6 months but that the mechanisms for clinical improvement following TMR remain elusive. Improvement of two angina classes occurred in 17% of the patients studied at 6 months. At 12 months, one and two angina class improvement was 50% and 13% respectively