Long-term clinical outcome after coronary balloon angioplasty. Identification of a population at low risk of recurrent events during 17 years of follow-up

AIMS: This study reports the clinical outcome, up to 17 years, of the first 856 consecutive patients treated by coronary angioplasty at a single centre and attempts to identify a subgroup of patients at low risk of adverse events. METHODS AND RESULTS: Follow-up status was established via hospital and general practitioner records and the civil registry. Median follow-up was 16 years. The overall 5-, 10-, 15- and 17-year survival was 90%, 78%, 64% and 58%, respectively and corresponding event-free survival was 53%, 33%, 22% and 19%. After 32% of patients had experienced a major adverse cardiac event in the first year, the annual coronary re-intervention incidence thereafter and, even beyond year 10, remained at 2%--3%. Using multivariable Cox regression, significant independent predictors of mortality were advanced age, diabetes, multivessel disease and impaired left ventricular function at the time of PTCA. A subgroup of 26% of the patients with none of these risk factors had a survival rate similar to the general Dutch population matched for age and gender (at 5 years: 96%, at 10 years: 89% and at 15 years: 83%). CONCLUSION: Although the majority of patients (>80%) experienced a further cardiac event during the 17 years after their first angioplasty procedure, in those non-diabetics under 60 years with single-vessel disease and good left ventricular function, prognosis was similar to the general population.