Risks of noncardiac surgery early after percutaneous coronary intervention

Prior registry data suggest that 4%-20% of patients require noncardiac surgery (NCS) within 2 years of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Contemporary data on NCS after PCI in the United States among women and men are limited. We determined the rate of early hospital readmission for NCS and associated outcomes in a large cohort of patients who underwent PCI in the United States.

Adults undergoing PCI between January 1 and June 30, 2014, were identified from the Nationwide Readmission Database. Patients readmitted for NCS within 6 months of PCI were identified. Outcomes of interest were in-hospital death, myocardial infarction (MI), and bleeding defined by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, codes.

Among 221,379 patients who underwent PCI and survived to hospital discharge, 3.5% (n = 7,696) were readmitted for NCS within 6 months post-PCI, and 41% of these hospitalizations were elective. Early NCS was complicated by MI in 4.7% of cases, and 21% of perioperative MIs were fatal. Bleeding was recorded in 32.0% of patients. All-cause mortality occurred in 4.4% of patients (n = 339) readmitted for surgery. The risk of death or MI was greatest when NCS was performed within the first month after PCI.

Despite clear guidelines to avoid surgery early after PCI, NCS was performed in 1 of every 29 patients with recent PCI, corresponding to as many as ~30,000 patients each year nationwide. Surgical mortality and perioperative MI were high in this setting. Strategies to minimize perioperative thrombotic and bleeding risks during readmission for NCS after PCI are necessary.