The Elderly Can Be Candidates for Angioplasty, Stenting

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"One has to delve beyond age itself for risk factors, as well as inquiring about someone who will care for these individuals," Bakal said. "I would assume that there is always someone at home to watch after this person."

Bakal said it is necessary to evaluate each person, asking about such issues as heart or kidney problems. "Each patient has to be individually evaluated to see what co-morbidities there might be. Also, before someone leaves, I would want a good idea of how the procedure went so I could make a judgment about sending him home or keeping him in the hospital," he said.

But with all these factors considered, he added, a tendency not to hospitalize "is very believable, and I would think it is right."

A single study can't prove the safety of these procedures for older people, Hartnell acknowledged. "The problem is that the incidence of complications is so low," he said.

More information

You can learn about interventional radiology in general and specific treatments from the Society of Interventional Radiology.