Coronary bypass surgery for unstable angina: a five-year follow-up.

A total of 125 consecutive patients who were hospitalized for unstable angina underwent early coronary arteriography. One hundred of them were suitable for operation and were operated on promptly. There were no early deaths. The patients who had surgery have been followed up to 87 months (means, 57 months). Eighty-eight percent of the patients who had surgery returned to work. The actuarial five-year survival rate of those patients was 92%. At an average of five years, conditions of 62% of those who survived surgery were classified as functional class I, and 23% were class II. These data indicate that patients with unstable angina can safely undergo early arteriography and operation with late results that appear to be superior to the results of medical management of similar patients.