The influence of diabetes mellitus on the procedural and inhospital outcomes after elective percutaneous coronary intervention

Approximately 15%-20% of the patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedure complicate with diabetes and this patient population continues to be a particular challenge for both the interventional cardiologist and the cardiac surgeon.1 It is well documented that diabetes is associated with more diffuse and severe coronary atherosclerosis. Long-term outcome after PCI is clearly worse in diabetics compared with non-diabetics.2 However, there is little information on the procedural and in-hospital outcomes of elective PCI in diabetic patients. In this study we analyzed the practice and in-hospital outcomes in a large series of consecutively treated patients with and without diabetes who underwent elective PCI.