Health Highlights: Sept. 1, 2008

Sept. 2 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Angioplasty Needs More Follow-Up Than Bypass: Study

While bypass surgery and angioplasty offer similar results for heart patients with clogged arteries, those who have angioplasties are twice as likely to require another procedure within a year, new research contends.

For a presentation Monday at the European Society of Cardiology meeting in Munich, European doctors compared the effectiveness of open-heart surgery versus angioplasty in a trial of more than 3,000 patients in Europe and the United States, according to the Associated Press.

About a third of the patients had medical conditions that required surgery. The remaining patients were randomly assigned to receive either bypass surgery or angioplasty, a non-surgical procedure which involves use of a stent to prop the artery open.

After one year, researchers found that the death rate among the two groups was virtually the same: 7.7 percent among surgery patients and 7.6 percent among angioplasty patients, the AP reported. But almost 14 percent of those who had angioplasty needed another procedure after a year, compared with about 6 percent of bypass patients. On the other hand, those who had surgery had about a 2 percent stroke risk versus almost zero risk for those who had an angioplasty.

The study was paid for by Boston Scientific, makers of heart stents.

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Maine Bans Smoking in Cars With Kids

On Monday, the state of Maine joined California, Arkansas, Louisiana and some Canadian provinces in banning smoking in a car when children are present.

The new law outlaws smoking in cars while youths under 16 are present. The law authorizes a $50 fine for violation, but for the first year police may issue only warnings, the Associated Press reported.

Gov. John Baldacci hailed the legislation as a strike against secondhand smoke when he signed it into law in April. He said tobacco use costs too many lives and too much money.