Long-term survival in 11,661 patients with multivessel coronary artery disease in the era of stenting: A report from the Alberta Provincial Project for Outcome Assessment in Coronary Heart Disease (APPROACH) Investigators

Background Studies of survival of patients with multivessel coronary artery disease (MVD) in the prestent era suggested that outcomes after coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) are similar to those after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in subsets of coronary severity. The purpose of this study of the Alberta Provincial Project for Outcome Assessment in Coronary Heart Disease (APPROACH) was to examine the association between treatment and survival up to 5 years in patients with MVD enrolled from 1995 through 1998. Methods and Results Data on patient characteristics were obtained at the time of the initial coronary angiography. Survival was determined through data linkage to the provincial Bureau of Vital Statistics. Risk-adjusted hazard ratios were calculated to compare different treatments. In the 11,661 patients with MVD, CABG was the initial therapy in 3782, PCI in 3540, and medical therapy in 4339. Cumulative 5-year survival was 91.4% with CABG, 91.9% with PCI, and 82.9% with medical therapy (P