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The outcome at 2, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months in terms of clinical status and Doppler echocardiographic parameters of 85 patients successfully dilated out of 116 patients undergoing percutaneous aortic valvuloplasty is reported. The objectives were to determine the survival rate, degree of clinical remission, the restenosis rate and its predictive factors. The 31 patients considered to be primary failures were excluded from the study. The global survival rates were 90 +/- 2% at 2 months, 84 +/- 4% at 6 months, 78 +/- 5% at 12 months, 69 +/- 6% at 18 months and 60 +/- 8% at 2 years. Patients in clinical remission and with clinical relapse were compared at the 6th month: relapse was significantly, related to prevalvuloplathy, low cardiac output (p = 0.05), low ejection fraction (p less than 0.03) and low fractional shortening (p less than 0.01), but the clinical relapse was independent of aortic valve surface area before and dilatation. In the relapse group, 14 patients (12%) were operated without complications in the first month of follow up, 6 patients underwent repeat valvuloplasty with 4 immediate failures and 2 improvements. The other patients were treated medically. The restenosis rate (loss of greater than 50% of initial gain in surface area or return of pre-valvuloplasty maximal pressure gradient +/- 25%) increased up to the 12th month in both groups (remission and relapse) and reached 78% at 12 +/- 3 months and seemed more pronounced in the less severe aortic stenosis. The incidence of restenosis was independent of gain in surface area after valvuloplasty.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The aim of this study was to determine the incidence, angiographic characteristics, clinical consequences, therapeutic implications and evolution of coronary arterial aneurysms after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) based on a series of 13 cases out of a total population of 752 patients undergoing balloon dilatation. Before BTCA, 10 patients had unstable angina and 3 had stable angina. The stenoses were of type A in 6 cases and, more complex, type B, in 7 cases. The results of PTCA were good except in 1 case in which the procedure was complicated by a rudimentary infarct due to an extensive intra mural rupture. The frequency of coronary aneurysms evaluated in a series of 150 patients dilated and controlled systematically was 4 p. 100. This complication was observed relatively late, 2 to 13 months after PTCA. The length of aneurysm ranged from 2 to 13 mm (3.9 +/- 2.9 mm). Nine aneurysms were sacciform and 4 were fusiform. They were isolated in 6 cases and associated with restenosis in 7 cases. The predisposing role of an oversized angioplasty balloon was a probable etiological factor; the balloon/artery ratio was over 1.1 in 4 cases and over 1.2 in 3 cases. Intramural rupture observed at the time of PTCA (8/13 cases) did not seem to be a predisposing factor as the incidence of coronary aneurysm was not significantly different in patients without this complication in the group of 150 patients dilated and controlled systematically by angiography (5.8% vs 3%; NS). In the 6 cases of isolated coronary aneurysm the patients were asymptomatic and were followed up with medical treatment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Between January 1986 and December 1988, 558 patients underwent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) of whom 40 per cent were dilated at the time of diagnostic coronary arteriography. In order to assess the value of this therapeutic strategy we compared the results of 221 patients dilated at the time of diagnostic coronary arteriography (Group 1) with those of 337 patients who underwent deferred PTCA. In Group 1, the incidence of stable angina was lower (26.7% vs 46.3%, p less than 10-5), that of thrombolysed myocardial infarction was higher (24% vs 2.7%, p less than 10-9) and a higher proportion of patients had previously undergone PTCA (29.4% vs 3.2%, p less than 10-9). The proportion of patients with single vessel disease was higher in Group 1 (84.6% vs 74.7%, p less than 0.01) as was that of angioplasty of a single lesion (97.7% vs 88.1%, p less than 10-4). There were fewer dilations of the left circumflex artery in Group 1 (17.2% vs 27.3%, p less than 0.05) which was compensated by a higher number involving the right coronary artery (26.1% vs 15.5%, p less than 0.01). The immediate results were comparable in the two groups with 87.8 per cent primary successes, 3.6 per cent of myocardial infarcts and 1.3 per cent of coronary bypass operations with no fatalities in Group 1. These favorable results encourage the development of PTCA at the time of diagnostic coronary arteriography in the following indications: unstable angina, thrombolysed myocardial infarction and restenosis irrespective of the patient's symptomatology.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)