CORONARY DISEASE REVERSAL

CAD and proof of arrest and reversal 3.

One and five years later. 195 coronary artery lesions were analysed by quantitative coronary angiography. One year later.	Control group: 20 subjected to usual-care. One year and  5 year.	Life style changed group: 28 patients were treated by low-fat vegetarian diet, stopping smoking, stress management training, and moderate exercise. No lipid-lowering drugs was used. One year. ------- 5 year
Effect on stenosis	Progressed from 42·7 (15·5)% to 46·1 (18·5)%.	One year: The average percentage diameter stenosis regressed from 40·0 (SD 16·9)% to 37·8 (16·5)%. -------------- 5 years: The average percent diameter stenosis at baseline decreased 1.75 absolute percentage points after 1 year (a 4.5% relative improvement) and by 3.1 absolute percentage points after 5 years (a 7.9% relative improvement). -----
When only lesions greater than 50% stenosis were analysed: .	One year:Progressed from 61·7 (9·5)% to 64·4 (16·3)%. -------------- 5 Year: the average percent diameter stenosis in the control group increased by 2.3 percentage points after 1 year (a 5.4% relative worsening) and by 11.8 percentage points after 5 years (a 27.7% relative worsening) (P=.001) between groups.	The average percentage diameter stenosis regressed from 61·1 (8·8)% to 55·8 (11·0)%.
Over all changes.	x	Overall, 82% of patients had an average change towards regression.
Cardiac events during the 5-year follow-up.	45 events in 20 control group patients (risk ratio for any event for the control group, 2.47 [95% confidence interval, 1.48-4.20]).	Twenty-five cardiac events occurred in 28 experimental group patients.
5-year follow-up completion.	15 [75%] of 20 patients completed 5-year follow-up and made more moderate changes.	20 [71%] of 28 patients completed 5-year follow-up and maintained comprehensive lifestyle changes for 5 years.
Comment.	Coronary atherosclerosis continued to progress and more than twice as many cardiac events occurred. "Patients in the control group who were not prescribed lipid-lowering drugs during the study showed more than 3 times as much progression in percent diameter stenosis as those who were.." "4 lesions were lost in the control group to bypass surgery or angioplasty; since these lesions were worsening sufficiently to require revascularization, the exclusion of these lesions from analysis would make between-group differences more difficult to detect.."	More regression of coronary atherosclerosis occurred after 5 years than after 1 year. "We do not know if experimental group patients may have demonstrated even more improvement by including lipid-lowering drugs." Higher to the adherence to life style changes, better was the improvement of stenosis.   Figure 2.—Changes in percentage diameter stenosis by 5-year adherence tertiles for the experimental group.

 

 

 

 

 

CAD AND PROOF OF ARREST AND REVERSAL 3

 

http://www.amazon.com/Spectrum-Scientifically-Proven-Program-Better/dp/0345496302#reader_0345496302

 

 

 

From Dr. Dean Ornish's book: The Spectrum. 2007. Page 10-11

 

In 1986, there were two basic ways to evaluate CAD severity,

1. Anatomical or structural: Coronary angiogram shows the severity of blockage of the artery.

2. Phyiological or functional: Measure of blood flow to the heart by PET (Positron Emmission Tomography) scans.

 

An example:

 

The subject enter the study in 1986 at age 64 with history of severe angina, and unable to walk more than a few steps without severe chest pain.

He had severe CAD involving all major coronary arteries and advised coronary bypass surgery.

After six weeks of intensive diet therapy, he was pain free.

After a year, he was able to climb 130 floors per day on a StairMaster with no angina. 

PET scan showed 300 percent improvement in blood flow to his heart.

Angiogram revealed reversal of coronary atherosclerosis. He also lost 39 pounds.

 

The picture in the upper-left-hand corner: The "before" picture of his angiogram, showing significant narrowing in the coronary artery.

The upper-right-hand photo: One year later that area is significantly wider.

The PET scans:

The bottom two pictures:

The darker areas are receiving very little blood flow to the heart.

The brighter areas are receiving the most blood flow.

The picture at the lower left:

His heart was not receiving adequate blood flow, as shown by the large dark areas.

The lower right-hand-picture: One year later, the most of the darker areas are replaced by brighter ones, showing substantially more blood flow.

 

1. K. Lance Gould, Dean Ornish,et al. Positron Emission Tomography After Long-term, Intense Risk Factor Modification. 1995;274(11):894-901. doi: 10.1001/jama.1995.03530110056036

http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/274/11/894.abstract