COMPLICATIONS OF PERCUTANEOUS TRANSLUMINAL CORONARY ANGIOPLASTY IN PATIENTS CONVALESCING FROM ACUTE MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION

Disagreement exists with regard to the role of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) in patients convalescing from acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Routine PTCA within the tist few days after thrombolytic therapy offers no benefit beyond that resulting from thrombolysis.1-3 Nevertheless, many physicians believe that even patients in stable condition are best served by diagnostic angiography and appropriate revascularization at some later point in their convalescence.4 However, there is evidence that the risk of death and major complications in such patients is greater than is true for PTCA performed outside the setting of AMI.5,6 The Treatment of Post Thrombolytic-Stenoses Study Group encountered a mortality of 2.1% in stable patients treated electively with PTCA 4 to 14 days after AMI,7 a figure substantially greater than that in patients with no recent AMI.5,6 Few data are available comparing the procedure-related morbidity and mortality associated with PTCA in contemporaneously treated patients with and without recent AMI. To provide insight into this issue, we compared results in those with AMI within 30 days of the PTCA with those with no such history. © 1994.