[Current results of coronary transluminal angioplasty]

During the last few years, coronary angioplasty has been widely performed with excellent immediate results. The primary success rate now ranges from 85 to 97 per cent, with a mortality rate of 0.1 to 2.5 per cent, a 1 to 3 per cent rate of infarction and an 0.5 to 3 per cent of emergency bypass operation. However, disorders of repolarization and chest pain may be observed during the days which follow the angioplasty. The reasons for these manifestations are not always obvious, and the explanation provided by early exercise tests is not sufficiently accurate. In the short term, restenosis is the major problem, as it occurs almost invariably in 30 per cent of the cases, irrespective of the preventive method used. The long term results are very encouraging, and most patients remain symptom-free. This, of course, cannot be said of those cases where angioplasty fails: the long term survival is about the same as in the successful cases but coronary events are much more frequent. the socio-economic impact of coronary angioplasty is not easy to evaluate owing to the ever increasing cost of the procedure events are much more frequent. The socio-economic impact of coronary angioplasty is not easy to evaluate owing to the ever increasing cost of the procedure and to the extension of its indications. As regards the latter, the most important point is to decide whether subjects with multiple vessel lesions should be treated by angioplasty or undergo an aorto-coronary bypass; this problem can not be solved for the moment, but several multicentre randomized studies are in progress in search of an answer.