Bijzondere interventies aan het hart - Gezondheidsraad

Executive summary
Health Council of the Netherlands. Cardiac interventions: a 2007 update.
The Hague: Health Council of the Netherlands, 2007; publication no.
2007/01.
Request for advice
In the Netherlands, cardiovascular diseases are still the leading cause of mortality,
accounting for about 48,000 deaths per annum. This means that one death in
three can be ascribed to disorders of this type. Of the current population of the
Netherlands, one million individuals have experienced symptoms of cardiovascular
diseases at some point in their lives. On an annual basis, well over 150,000
individuals develop a complication in relation to these diseases.
The majority of such symptoms arise when blood vessels in the coronary
artery system develop a stenosis, as a result of calcification. This is referred to as
coronary heart disease. This restricts the blood flow to part of the heart muscle,
which then dies from lack of oxygen. There is also a range of other, less commonly
occurring disorders, such as: cardiac arrhythmias, heart valve insufficiencies,
aneurysms of the thoracic and abdominal aorta, chronic heart failure and
congenital cardiac defects.
The treatment of coronary problems aims to relieve the stenoses, and to
restore blood flow through the coronary arteries (revascularisation). The most
common approach involves either a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) or a
percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The latter procedure is also referred to
in the Netherlands as “dotteren” (named after C.T. Dotter, one of the pioneers
who developed the procedure). A wide range of treatment options are available
for the other disorders.
Executive summary 29