title: Cause and circumstance of in-hospital mortality among patients undergoing contemporary percutaneous coronary intervention: a root-cause analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Prior studies suggest that most deaths in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are related to procedural complications. Mortality associated with PCI has steadily declined during the past decade, and the cause and circumstance of death among patients undergoing PCI in the contemporary era remain unknown.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We evaluated all patients undergoing PCI at the University of Michigan from 2001 to 2009. There were 85 deaths among a total of 5520 patients undergoing PCI during this time period. By using a standardized data collection form, 3 cardiologists (2 interventional, H.S.G. and D.S.M.; 1 noninvasive, A.M.B.) determined the cause and circumstance of death, in addition to grading the preventability of death. Left ventricular failure was the most common cause of death (35.3%, n=30), followed by neurological compromise (16.5%, n=14) and arrhythmia (12.1%, n=12). The circumstance of death was mostly acute cardiac (52.9%, n=45), with a procedural complication composing a small fraction (7.1%, n=6). Reviewers determined 93% of deaths to be mostly or entirely unpreventable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Procedural complications are responsible for a small fraction of deaths among patients undergoing contemporary PCI. Measures to further enhance procedural safety are unlikely to translate into meaningful reductions in PCI mortality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Javier A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Valle
authors.forename: Dean E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Anna M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Booher
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Menees
authors.forename: Hitinder S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Gurm
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary / Q000401:mortality*; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged