Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty in 1985-1986 and 1977-1981. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Registry

Abstract In August 1985, the Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty Registry of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute reopened at its previous sites to document changes in angioplasty strategy and outcome. The new registry entered 1802 consecutive patients who had not had a myocardial infarction in the 10 days before angioplasty. Patient selection, technical outcome, and short-term major complications were compared with those of the 1977 to 1981 registry cohort. The new-registry patients were older and had a significantly higher proportion of multivessel disease (53 vs. 25 percent, P<0.001), poor left ventricular function (19 vs. 8 percent, P<0.001), previous myocardial infarction (37 vs. 21 percent, P<0.001), and previous coronary bypass surgery (13 vs. 9 percent, P<0.01). The new-registry cohort also had more complex coronary lesions, and angioplasty attempts in these patients involved more multivessel procedures. Despite these differences, the in-hospital outcome in the new cohort was b...