PERCUTANEOUS TRANSLUMINAL CORONARY ANGIOPLASTY AS A FIRST REVASCULARIZATION PROCEDURE IN SINGLE-VESSEL, DOUBLE-VESSEL AND TRIPLE-VESSEL CORONARY-ARTERY DISEASE

Objectives. We sought to compare in hospital and long term outcome after angioplasty in patients with single-, double- and triple-vessel disease. Background. Coronary angioplasty is increasingly used in patients with multivessel disease. Methods. The source of data was the clinical data base at Emery University. Patients who had previous coronary revascularization or who underwent angioplasty in the setting of acute myocardial infarction were excluded. Results. Of 10,783 patients, 71% had one-vessel, 24% two-vessel and 5% three-vessel disease. Age, male gender, diabetes, hypertension, history of previous myocardial infarction, Canadian Cardiovascular Society class III or IV angina and congestive failure all increased with severity of disease. Complete revascularization was achieved in most patients with one-vessel disease, in a minority with two vessel disease and rarely in those with three-vessel disease. Emergency coronary bypass surgery increased from 1.7% with one vessel disease to 3.2% with three-vessel disease. Q wave myocardial infarctions could not be shown to vary significantly with severity of disease. The mortality rate increased from 0.2% with one vessel disease to 1.2% with three-vessel disease. The number of vessels diseased was a multivariate correlate of in-hospital and long-term mortality. The 1, 5- and 10-year survival was 0.99, 0.93 and 0.86 for one-vessel disease and 0.97, 0.89 and 0.76 for two-vessel disease, respectively. The 1-, 5- and 9-year survival was 0.95, 0.85 and 0.70 in three-vessel disease, respectively. Freedom from myocardial infarction, coronary bypass surgery and repeat angioplasty was also lower with more severe disease. Conclusions. Patients have increasing in-hospital and longterm mortality as the severity of disease increases. There is also an increased incidence of myocardial infarction and revascularization procedures with more severe disease.