PrepTest 117, Section 2, Question 2
Cardiologist: Coronary bypass surgery is commonly performed on(40 more words not shown)
The cardiologist's statements, if true,(8 more words not shown)
- ABypass surgery is(5 more words not shown)
- BNeedless bypass surgery(6 more words not shown)
- CBypass surgery should(9 more words not shown)
- DBypass surgery is(10 more words not shown)
- ESometimes there are(10 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
If another treatment works just as well, why choose surgery? There could be a good reason. Perhaps the alternative costs more or creates more risk. Equal effectiveness alone wouldn't settle the choice.
But the cardiologist addresses those concerns: the alternatives described here are relatively inexpensive and less risky because they're less intrusive. That gives us a reason to question using bypass surgery in these cases. We still don't know why it's commonly performed. Habit or some other consideration might be involved, but the passage doesn't explain the decision.
What we’re looking for
The question asks what these statements most strongly support. Keep the conclusion modest: sometimes patients have another option that works as well and poses less risk. We don't need to decide what every patient should do. And 'especially debatable' for single-vessel disease doesn't mean surgery is automatically the right choice for every other case.
Working the answers
- A
All alternatives? The cardiologist discusses certain other therapies, not every possible treatment. Those particular options pose less risk, but another alternative could be riskier than surgery. The passage doesn't rank bypass surgery above every alternative on risk.
- B
We have no comparison with the past. 'Commonly performed' tells us something about how often the surgery occurs, but not whether needless surgery is more common than it used to be. It could have been just as common, or more common, years ago. Nor does the existence of an equally effective alternative by itself tell us how much surgery is needless overall. B adds a historical trend that the passage never supplies.
- C
Having a particularly strong reason to question surgery for one diseased vessel doesn't establish that it should be performed when several vessels are diseased. Perhaps another therapy is preferable in some of those cases too. 'Especially debatable here' is not a recommendation to operate everywhere else.
- D
The alternatives are described as relatively inexpensive, but the cardiologist doesn't explain why single-vessel cases are especially debatable. We can't fill in 'because surgery is especially expensive in those cases.' Risk, effectiveness, or another consideration could explain the special concern. D assigns a particular reason the passage doesn't give.
- ECorrect
This puts together the two facts the cardiologist actually provides: in some cases, other therapies would be as effective as bypass surgery, and those therapies involve less risk. 'Sometimes' stays within the evidence. We can support that limited comparison without concluding that bypass surgery is always inappropriate or that every alternative is safer.
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