Bypass Breakthrough

Doctors have long suspected that lowering a patient's cholesterol level after bypass surgery would slow the growth of new blockages in the coronary vessels. ( But the proper treatment has proved elusive. Last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. David Blankenhorn of the University of Southern California reported that patients who were treated with a combination of the anticholesterol drug colestipol and the vitamin niacin showed a marked improvement over those who had maintained a low-fat diet alone.

After two years, X rays showed that life-threatening plaque had started to melt away in 16.2% of the treated patients, vs. 2.4% in the control group. The results were so dramatic that some health professionals called for routine anticholesterol drug treatment after bypass surgery. Cardiologist Blankenhorn, who was one of the 162 subjects of the study, demurred: "Drugsalone are not enough. People are still going to have to change to a healthier life-style."