title: Transmyocardial laser revascularization 12 years later.
abstract: We report the long-term follow-up of 34 patients who underwent transmyocardial laser revascularization (TMLR) from 1995 to 1999. At 12 years the actuarial survival is 24%±8%, actuarial freedom from cardiac deaths is 36%±10% and actuarial freedom from major adverse cardiac events 13%±8%. Mean angina class of nine current survivors is 2.7±0.6. Based on these results, the use of TMLR as an isolated procedure remains questionable. TMLR could probably achieve better results when employed in combination with myocardial revascularization or as a vehicle of intramyocardial growth factors.
authors.affiliation: Section of Cardiac Surgery, Cardiac Thoracic and Vascular Department, University of Pisa Medical School, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pratali
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chiaramonti
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Milano
authors.forename: Uberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bortolotti
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000789:Angina, Unstable / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000601:surgery*; D009204:Myocardial Revascularization / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D016019:Survival Analysis