[Percutaneous coronary intervention in Denmark from 1989 to 1998. Results from the Danish PTCA registry]

During the ten-year period 1989 to 1998, all percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) in Denmark were recorded in the Danish PTCA Registry. The purpose was quality control based on treatment activity, severity of illness, technique employed, success rate, and complications.

For each PCI procedure a number of 144 parameters were recorded in a national database. The present analysis of these data was carried out using parametric statistics and logistic regression analysis.

From 1989 to 1998 the annual number of PCI procedures increased from 240 to 3840. The database contains 13,868 procedures of which 10,804 are first time interventions. Men accounted for three fourths of the patients. The mean age was 60.7 years for women and 57.9 years for men. During the ten-year period a rise of two years on average was seen for both sexes with a doubling of patients being older than 70 years. More patients with acute coronary syndrome and multivessel disease had PCI. The use of coronary stents increased from 2.0% in 1992 to 90.7% in 1998 and the primary success rate rose from 81% to 90%. Serious complications decreased from 5.4% to 3.0%, mainly due to a significant fall in procedurally related acute bypass surgery. Mortality remained unchanged around 0.6%. Age was found to be the only independent predictor for major procedurally related complications.

From 1989 to 1998 a sixteenfold increase in the number of PCI was observed. In parallel to this was seen an increase in the use of coronary stents and in the procedural success rate, while the frequency of serious complications decreased. This progress is similar to that of several other European countries.