Restenosis after successful coronary angioplasty in single vessel disease

One hundred and ninety five patients who underwent successful percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) for single vessel disease and have been followed up for more than 6 months are being reported. Angiography was done routinely in first 20 patients (Group 1) 8 to 15 weeks (mean 9.6 weeks) after PTCA. Restenosis (loss of 50% of the initial improvement in luminal diameter) was seen in 4 patients (20%). The remaining 175 patients (Group II) have been followed up clinically and subjected to serial exercise testing. Coronary angiography was performed only if symptoms and/or objective evidence of ischemia recurred. In this group, restenosis suspected clinically and confirmed by angiography occurred in 37 patients (21%), 2 to 23 weeks (mean 12.5 weeks) after PTCA. The restenosis rate for the entire patient population was 21%. In general the restenosed lesions were longer and tighter than the lesions before PTCA. A comparison of 41 patients with restenosis with those who did not have clinical restenosis revealed a proximal left anterior descending artery (LAD) involvement (66% vs 31%, p = 0.01), crescendo unstable angina (37% vs 16% p = 0.05), length of pre PTCA stenotic lesion greater than or equal to 1 cm (41% vs 27.5%, p less than 0.05), absence of intimal haziness in immediate post PTCA angiogram (27% vs 16%, p less than 0.05) and residual stenosis greater than or equal to 25%, (34% vs 14% p less than 0.05) in the restenosis group. Repeat PTCA was done in 30 patients with a 96% success rate; 4 patients required coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Restenosis after PTCA is a significant problem in our experience.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)