Management of preinfarction angina. Evaluation and comparison of medical versus surgical therapy in 43 patients.

Short-term results of aggressive surgical management were compared with results of medical management in forty-three patients with preinfarction angina admitted to the coronary-care unit (CCU) over an 18 month period. These patients were selected from 1,609 consecutive admissions to the CCU because they met strict criteria for preinfarction angina: severe chest pain at rest, ST-segment elevation or depression during pain which subsided rapidly after cessation of pain, and normal serum enzymes (CPK, SGOT, and LDH). Twenty-three patients had coronary angiography, done with operating room and pump standby. One patient, who had total occlusion of the left main coronary artery, died during the study. Twenty-one of the remaining patients were considered surgical candidates, and were treated immediately after angiography with 1 to 3 vein bypass grafts. There was one late postoperative death and, of the 20 survivors, 2 had ECG evidence of acute myocardial infarction and one had mild angina at time of discharge. In contrast, of the 21 patients treated medically, 13 sustained acute MI, resulting in 8 instances of congestive heart failure and 4 cases of ventricular fibrillation. Four patients died in cardiogenic shock. With the use of rigid criteria, a small subgroup of patients with variant angina at high risk of developing AMI has been identified and categorized as having preinfarction angina. Our experience suggests that aggressive surgery immediately following coronary angiography offers a lower incidence of MI, morbidity, and death than does medical management.