Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) are both widely performed in the treatment of multivessel coronary artery disease. Little data directly compare the outcomes of patients treated with these 2 techniques. We examined the characteristics and outcomes of 152 patients who underwent multivessel PTCA and 134 patients who had multivessel CABG. Patients who had prior PTCA or CABG were excluded. Baseline characteristics such as age, sex, and prior myocardial infarction were similar in the 2 groups. Ejection fraction was significantly lower in the CABG group (48 +/- 14%) versus the PTCA patients (53 +/- 15%) (p = 0.002). Narrowing distribution when analyzed by major vascular beds (left anterior descending, circumflex and right coronary arteries) as well as by individual arteries was not significantly different between the groups when left main stenosis was excluded. The surgical group received a larger number of bypasses per patient (3.9) when compared with narrowings dilated in the angioplasty group (3.7) (p less than 0.001). The left internal mammary artery was used in 75% of patients as one of the grafts. Angioplasty success was 95% by standard criteria. Over a mean follow-up of 110 weeks for PTCA patients and 134 weeks for CABG patients the occurrence of death was similar (10 and 14%, respectively) as was myocardial infarction (4 and 2%, respectively). However, all other cardiac events including subsequent cardiac catheterization (49 vs 10%), PTCA (30 vs 2%) and CABG (23 vs 2%) occurred significantly more often in the PTCA group (all p less than 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Contrast agent safety during cardiac catheterization (CC) may relate in part to anti- or procoagulant effect. We studied these effects in 177 patients who underwent standard CC (N=112) or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) (N=65) and received either iohexol (N=111) or ioxaglate (N=66). Patients received either 0 or 2000u heparin for CC or 10,000u for PTCA. The groups were similar in regards to age, sex, amount of contrast used, and procedure time. Partial thromboplastin time (PTT) and activated clotting time (ACT) were both significantly increased (P less than .01) in patients who received 10,000u heparin irrespective of type of contrast agent although larger increases were seen in the iohexol group. With 2000u of heparin, ACT and PTT increased significantly (P less than .01) only in the iohexol group. PTT and ACT actually decreased to similar and significant (P less than .01) degrees after both iohexol and ioxaglate when heparin was not used. We conclude: 1) commonly used measures of anticoagulant (ACT and PTT) show greater prolongation after either 2000 or 10,000u of heparin with iohexol than ioxaglate, 2) ACT and PCT appear to shorten with both iohexol and ioxaglate if no heparin is used. This data would suggest that ioxaglate does not have an anticoagulant advantage over iohexol.

To compare the results and outcome of different management approaches for acute myocardial infarction, we analyzed our experience with early (i.e., within 6 hours of infarct onset) direct percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (group A) versus initial treatment with thrombolytic therapy (group B) followed by angioplasty. From 1982 to 1989 a total of 214 patients underwent primary angioplasty for acute myocardial infarction. During this time 157 patients underwent initial thrombolytic therapy, 104 with intravenous streptokinase and 53 with intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator followed by angioplasty. Other than age (group A, 61.7 ± 11.5 years; group B, 57.3 ± 11.6 years; p = 0.0002), the clinical characteristics of the groups were similar. In group A, 197 (92.1%) had successful results, and 17 (7.9%) were failures. Of the group treated with thrombolytic therapy, there was an overall 81.5% patency rate for patients treated with streptokinase and tissue-type plasminogen activator with no significant difference between the agents. Angioplasty success after thrombolytic therapy was 94.3%. In-hospital and 1-year survival was significantly better in group B patients (95.5% and 95.5%, respectively) than in group A patients (92.1% and 89.3%, respectively). We conclude that both direct angioplasty and thrombolytic therapy followed by angioplasty provide high recanalization rates but that short- and long-term survival is improved when thrombolytic therapy precedes angioplasty in acute myocardial infarction patients.