Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty for Acute Myocardial Infarction.

Between 1986 and 1991, direct coronary angioplasty was attempted in 79 patients. The procedure was successful in 76 patients (96%), unsuccessful without complications in 2 patients, and major complications occurred in 1 patient (ventricular fibrillation and cardiogenic shock). Reperfusion was obtained from 1 to 7.5 hours (mean: 3.3 ± 1.3 hours) after the onset of chest pain. Amongthe 76 successfully dilated patients, there was one cardiac death and 68 had predischarge angiography (64 patent, 2 stenosed, and 2 occluded). Although only 33 of the 58 patients (57%) angiographically followed after discharge showed persistence of primary patency, 52 of the 57 (91%) followed further obtained final patency when angioplasty was repeated up to 4 times. These results indicate that direct angioplasty in the community hospital setting can achieve a high primary success rate and a low reocclusion rate.(Internal Medicine 32: 285-290, 1993)