Results of repeat angiography up to eight years following percutaneous transluminal angioplasty.
Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) has become a widely accepted procedure that provides acute and medium-term relief of anginal symptoms and myocardial ischaemia. The acute success rate has risen from about 50% in the early days to approximately 90% in recent years. Serial repeat angiograms obtained in different patient groups have shown a 20% incidence of angiographically defined restenosis in patients who had been successfully treated initially. Despite the restenosis, many of these patients were symptomatically improved since the lesions shown at follow-up angiography were often less severe than those that had existed prior to original PTCA. These figures suggest that a success rate of 80% at 1 year should now be a realistic expectation, especially when patients with repeat PTCA are included. None of the 87 patients re-angiographed between 2 and 8 years after successful PTCA developed restenosis after the first year of treatment. However, new stenoses of 50% or more were found in other vessel segments, in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients, at a rate of about 7% per year.
Kober
G
G
Department of Cardiology, Frankfurt University Hospital, West Germany.
Vallbracht
C
C
Kadel
C
C
Kaltenbach
M
M
D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D012008:Recurrence