Surgery seems best for heart disease in diabetics

• Bypass surgery might be better than stents for diabetics
• In study, surgery was linked to fewer deaths
• Findings were presented at AHA conference

LOS ANGELES (AP) — New research shows that people with diabetes and several clogged heart arteries fare better with bypass surgery instead of having stents placed to prop open their blood vessels.

Doctors compared the treatments in a study of 1,900 diabetics and looked five years later to see how many had suffered a heart attack, stroke or death. Only 19% of the bypass group had, versus 27% of those given stents.

People like this represent about one-fourth of all heart disease patients.

Results were discussed Sunday at an American Heart Association conference and published by the New England Journal of Medicine.