Coronary angioplasty: A therapeutic option for symptomatic patients with two and three vessel coronary disease

Coronary angioplasty is a widely applied revascularization procedure for patients with multivessel coronary artery disease. However, follow-up in this patient subgroup is relatively limited. From 1983 to 1986, coronary angioplasty was performed in 349 and 121 patients with, respectively, two- and three-vessel coronary disease with a primary success rate of 83 and 88%. The in-hospital mortality rate was 2.8% (13 of 470 patients). Complete revascularization was achieved in 128 patients. Among the 397 patients with a successful outcome, 373 (94%) were followed up ≥ 1 year; 79% were free of death, nonfatal myocardial infarction or the need for coronary bypass grafting, and 82% of patients had symptomatic improvement by at least one angina functional class. A second coronary angioplasty procedure was required in 13% of patients.After a mean follow-up period of 27 months, an increased incidence of coronary bypass grafting was noted in patients with incomplete versus complete revascularization (16 versus 7%, p < 0.05). Among the 222 patients who had repeat cardiac catheterization performed an average of 7 months after angioplasty, 103 were symptomatic; 50% of the 222 patients had at least one vessel with ≥50% restenosis and 14% of patients had multiple restenoses.In conclusion, coronary angioplasty can be performed with a high initial success rate and marked symptomatic improvement in patients with multivessel coronary disease. However, in this group's experience, the majority of patients selected for coronary angioplasty with multivessel coronary disease will have incomplete revascularization that can be predicted in the majority of patients before the procedure. The risk of subsequent cardiac events over 2 years of follow-up is small but is increased in patients with incomplete revascularization.