title: Emergency percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty during acute myocardial infarction for patients more than 70 years of age.
abstract: Thirty-five patients greater than 70 years of age with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were treated with emergency percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). Seventeen (49%) patients received previous thrombolytic therapy: streptokinase (10 patients), tissue plasminogen activator (6) and combined tissue plasminogen activator and urokinase (1). Infarct-related artery patency was achieved in 26 patients (74%) after PTCA. Total in-hospital mortality was 34%. Univariate analysis showed a higher in-hospital mortality in patients with an occluded vessel after PTCA (78%) than in those patients with a patient infarct-related artery (19%) (p = 0.003). Symptomatic coronary reocclusion occurred in 3 patients (15%) during the hospital stay. Compared with emergency PTCA in 200 consecutively treated patients less than 70 years of age, the in-hospital mortality was increased (34 vs 6%, p less than 0.001), and the primary success rate was reduced (66 vs 90%, p less than 0.001). At a mean follow-up of 28 months, there has been a 13% out-of-hospital mortality rate in the elderly patients (3 patients died). Of the 20 surviving patients, 14 are asymptomatic and 6 have class II angina. In conclusion, emergency PTCA for AMI in elderly patients is associated with a decreased success rate and a higher mortality rate. However, the in-hospital mortality rate is not dissimilar to that in elderly AMI patients treated with conventional therapy or thrombolytic therapy alone, and the postdischarge mortality rates are low.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor 48109-0022.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Holland
authors.forename: W W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Bates
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pitt
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Topol
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000800:Angioplasty, Balloon; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D012008:Recurrence; D014654:Vascular Patency