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Despite their enthusiasm, Lenox Hill physicians caution that the technique is experimental. With Griintzig and a team of San Francisco researchers led by Dr. Richard Myler, they are working to refine the equipment and determine which patients could benefit from the procedure. Equally important, the doctors are trying to assess the long-range effects. For example, do the arteries close down again, and when? Where does the plaque eventually go? Stertzer speculates about a possible "self-healing" mechanism. Indeed, when the arteries of a few patients were re-examined a month or so after balloon dilatation, doctors could not see where the original narrowings had been. The same phenomenon has been noticed in some of the hundreds of patients who have undergone plaque compression in leg arteries. In 70% of 300 cases studied, the arteries are still open two to three years later.
Before they know if a similar percentage holds true for heart arteries, doctors will have to use the balloon dilatation technique on hundreds of cardiac patients. Then, says Stertzer, "if 80% of the arteries are open after a year, we're into a revolution in cardiology.''