SHORT-TERM OUTCOME AND LONG-TERM FOLLOW-UP OF PERCUTANEOUS CORONARY INTERVENTION IN PATIENTS AGED 40 YEARS OR YOUNGER

Forty five patients aged 40 years or younger were treated with coronary intervention in our institution between 1983 and 1994. This young Japanese population had a strong predisposition to risk factors but did not have extensive disease. These patients underwent 50 elective interventional procedures for angina pectoris or old myocardial infarction and 6 direct, balloon angioplasty procedures for acute myocardial infarction. The initial successful result was obtained in 41 of the 45 patients (91%). The mean follow-up was 43+/-35 months. Angiographic follow-up was available in 31 of the 41 eligible patients (76%). Angiographic restenosis was seen in 9 of these 31 patients (29%), and in 12 of the 38 lesions (32%) with initial successful intervention. There were no deaths among the successfully treated patients. Event-free survival rate without death, myocardial infarction, or coronary artery bypass surgery was 94%; however, event-free survival rate without death, myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass surgery, or repeat intervention was 66% at 43 months. Ninety three percent of the eligible patients were free from angina at follow-up. These short- and long-term results suggest that young Japanese patients can be treated safely and effectively with coronary interventions.