Medicine: Is the Heart Bypass Necessary?

Cardiologists debate surgery's usefulness for angina victims

In the Disneyland atmosphere, the explosive controversy seemed out of place. But the heated debate about coronary bypass surgery clearly dominated the annual scientific session of the American College of Cardiology, held last month in Anaheim, Calif. TIME Contributor Gilbert Cant attended along with some 7,000 physicians and surgeons. His report:

Dr. Eliot Corday, a past president of the college, was unequivocal. "Bypass surgery," he declared, "is the most important development of the decade in medicine." Not necessarily so, countered a number of cardiologists, notably those...