Impact of intracoronary imaging on in-hospital mortality and 30-day readmission rates following percutaneous coronary intervention: A nationwide readmissions database analysis.

BACKGROUND

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is well established for the treatment of obstructive coronary artery disease. This study was performed to assess the impact of in-hospital mortality and 30-day readmission with intracoronary imaging as an adjunct to baseline coronary angiography.

METHODS

The study was derived from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's National Readmission Database (NRD) of 2016, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Patients who underwent PCI were identified using appropriate ICD-10 codes. Study population was further subcategorized into 2 PCI arms: intravascular imaging (''imaging'' group) and fluoroscopy guided (''angiography'' group). Primary endpoints were 30-day readmissions and in-hospital mortality. Secondary endpoints were length of stay, cost of care, predictors of 30-day readmission and in-hospital mortality in PCI related hospitalizations.

RESULTS

We identified in total 188,368 index admissions, with 12,379 patients in the "imaging-guided" group and 175,989 in the "angiography-alone" group. There were no differences in 30-day readmissions between both groups (~10.8% in both arms, p = .788). However, in-hospital mortality carried a statistically significant reduction with use of imaging-guided PCI (1.72% vs 2.24%, p = .004). The median length of stay was longer in the imaging-guided arm (3 vs. 2 days, p < .001), associated with larger median total hospital costs ($32,123 USD vs. $25,162 USD, p < .001). The strongest predictor of in-hospital mortality in both univariate and multivariate analysis was having an existing coagulopathy.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study did not confer benefit with regards to 30-day hospital readmission rates when utilizing intracoronary imaging versus angiography-alone in percutaneous coronary intervention, but did suggest there may be an association between the use of intracoronary imaging and improved in-hospital mortality. In addition, resource utilization was higher in the intra-coronary imaging arm of the study.