Every year, 60,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with heart failure, and many are treated with stents. In a large new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, my colleagues and I discovered that these procedures are unnecessary.

Heart failure is where the heart muscle becomes weakened, leading to symptoms of severe breathlessness that may cause premature death. The commonest cause is blocked blood vessels that reduce blood supply to the heart muscle. This is known as coronary artery disease.

A person with heart failure is treated with medication and sometimes with specialised pacemakers. Despite this treatment, many patients die prematurely or are admitted to hospital with worsening symptoms.

People with heart failure also sometimes have a procedure to insert a stent – a small metal tube that is used to unblock a coronary artery. Stents are placed into the heart arteries by a cardiologist through tubes inserted either into the wrist or the groin and guided by X-rays. Trials have shown that stents are a very effective treatment for people with heart attacks and angina, but their effects in patients with heart failure have remained uncertain.