Analysis of 100 emergency aortocoronary bypass operations after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty: which patients are at risk for large infarctions?

Severe vascular complications are an inherent risk of per-cutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). The data of the first 100 emergency aortocoronary bypass operations required in the first 2850 interventions (3.5%) were retrospectively analyzed in order to identify factors that determine postoperative infarct size. Large infarctions were assumed if the patient died of cardiogenic shock (n = 12), if postoperative angiography demonstrated a decrease in left ventricular ejection fraction by more than 20% or if R-waves in the ECG decreased by more than 40% and a QRS-score increased by more than 5.