Vascular Complications from Coronary Angiography/Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: Comparing Day Case Patients and Inpatients in a Tertiary Hospital in Thailand: A Retrospective Cohort Stud

Objective: To compare the incidence along with risk factors of vascular complications between patients having undergone Coronary angiography/Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (CAG/PCIs); as day cases and those as inpatients. Material and Methods: Our study is a retrospective cohort study. We performed a retrospective chart review of the patients, visiting a heart center of the hospital from October, 2014 to September, 2018. We included patients of a minimum 18 years of age, who had undergone CAG/PCIs. Excluded patients were those who had been referred from other hospitals. The main outcomes were vascular complications defined as: (1) bleeding with significant blood loss during the procedure. (2) Hematoma within 1 month after the procedure. Wilcoxon’s rank sum and chi-squared test were used to assess the risk factors. Results: Of all 784 patients having undergone CAG/PCI, 387 were day cases and 397 were inpatients. Only 12 cases developed vascular complications. The incidence of vascular complications was not significantly different between either day case; whose incidence was 1.3% (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.72-1.87), and inpatients; whose incidence was 1.8% (95% CI, 1.10-2.42). We found that the risk factors of vascular complications were percutaneous coronary intervention, and using a vascular closure device to remove the introducer sheath. Conclusion: Performing CAG/PCI as day cases did not increase the risks of complications post-procedure, as compare to the inpatients. However, due to the small numbers of patients with complications future studies with more patients are needed to ensure the safety of day case CAG/PCI. Patients undergoing PCI, or patients with vascular closure devices used should be closely observed before discharge.