[Current complication rate of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty in stable and unstable angina].

During a four-year period (1983-1986) percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) was performed on 930 patients with stable or unstable angina with a mortality rate of 0.4%. A transmural myocardial infarct developed in 1.1% and 1.0% of patients required an urgent aorto-coronary bypass. Thus the total rate of severe cardiac complications was 2.5%. Compared with the years 1983-1985, there was in 1986 a significant fall in the number of deaths and of myocardial infarcts from 2.2% to 0.5% (P less than 0.05), while there was a nonsignificant increase in emergency coronary bypass surgery from 0.7 to 1.3%. Patients with unstable angina compared with those with stable angina had a significantly higher mortality rate (1.0% vs. 0.2%; P less than 0.05), incidence of infarction (2.0% vs. 0.6%; P less than 0.05), and emergency operations (2.0% vs. 0.5%; P less than 0.05). The total risk of a severe cardiac complication was 1.2% for stable and 5.2% for unstable angina (P less than 0.001).