§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many heart bypass operations have been carried out in the NHS in each of the last 10 years. [53283]
§ yvette Cooper[holding answer 29 April 2002]: Patients who need revascularisation may be treated by angioplasty (PTCA) a non-surgical intervention to open arteries that have become blocked, or by coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), a surgical procedure which bypasses blocked arteries. As the technology has improved angioplasty has become the appropriate treatment for an increasing proportion of patients. A table providing data on the number of finished consultant episodes for angioplasty and coronary artery bypass in England for the last 10 years has been placed in the Library.
Information about operations undertaken in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for the devolved Administrations.