Angioplasty of the Proximal Left Anterior Descending Coronary Artery: Initial Success and Long-term Follow-up

From October 1984 to December 1994, 95 patients (mean age 54 years; range 34-78; 82 men) underwent angioplasty for left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery disease. The procedure was successful in 93,7 %. The clincal success was 89,7 %. Follow-up was obtained for a mean duration of 27,4 months (range 12 to 60 months). 68 patients could be reviewed with a control angiography. The overall restenosis amounted to 39,7 % representing 27 cases; 16 of them had a redilatation and 7 a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) operation. Four were treated medically. The survival rate was 95,7 %, freedom from cardiac death, myocardial infarction, CABG or repeat LAD artery angioplasty was 64.8 %. Since on ethird of our cases were performed in the learning period of the clinic, we reached a lower success rate than some other institutions. We conclude that balloon coronary angioplasty alone presents a high rate of restenosis, and the need for revascularization is not seldom.