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Updated: Dec 24, 2025
Author Spotlight: Enhancing Coronary Artery Revascularization
Published on: September 15, 2023
Long-term Outcomes in Patients With Severely Reduced Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction Undergoing Percutaneous
Louise Y Sun1,2,3, Mario Gaudino4, Robert J Chen1
1Division of Cardiac Anesthesiology, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Insights
Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is linked to higher mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) compared to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients with severely reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). These findings aid clinical decision-making for high-risk cardiac patients.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Interventional Cardiology
- Cardiac Surgery
Background:
- Severely reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF < 35%) poses significant risks for patients with complex coronary artery disease.
- Limited data exists comparing long-term outcomes of revascularization strategies (PCI vs. CABG) in this vulnerable patient population.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the long-term efficacy and safety of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) versus coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients with severely reduced LVEF.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective cohort study in Ontario, Canada (2008-2016) including 2,397 propensity-matched patients (PCI vs. CABG) with LVEF < 35% and complex coronary artery disease.
- Primary outcome: all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes: cardiovascular death, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), and individual MACE components.
Main Results:
- Patients undergoing PCI experienced significantly higher rates of all-cause mortality (HR 1.6), cardiovascular death (HR 1.4), and MACE (HR 2.0) compared to CABG.
- PCI was also associated with increased rates of subsequent revascularization, myocardial infarction hospitalization, and heart failure hospitalization.
Conclusions:
- Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is associated with worse long-term outcomes, including higher mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), compared to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients with severely reduced left ventricular ejection fraction.
- These findings suggest that CABG may be a preferred revascularization strategy for selected patients with severely impaired LVEF and complex coronary artery disease.
Importance:
Data are lacking on the outcomes of patients with severely reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) who undergo revascularization by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
Objective:
To compare the long-term outcomes in patients undergoing revascularization by PCI or CABG.
Design, Setting, And Participants:
This retrospective cohort study performed in Ontario, Canada, from October 1, 2008, and December 31, 2016, included data from Ontario residents between 40 and 84 years of age with LVEFs less than 35% and left anterior descending (LAD), left main, or multivessel coronary artery disease (with or without LAD involvement) who underwent PCI or CABG. Exclusion criteria were concomitant procedures, previous CABG, metastatic cancer, dialysis, CABG and PCI on the same day, and emergency revascularization within 24 hours of a myocardial infarction (MI). Data analysis was performed from June 2, 2018, to December 28, 2018.
Exposures:
Revascularization by PCI or CABG.
Main Outcomes And Measures:
The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes were death from cardiovascular disease, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE; defined as stroke, subsequent revascularization, and hospitalization for MI or heart failure), and each of the individual MACE.
Results:
A total of 12 113 patients (mean [SD] age, 64.8 (11.0) years for the PCI group and 65.6 [9.7] years for the CABG group; 5084 (72.5%) male for the PCI group and 4229 (82.9%) male for the PCI group) were propensity score matched on 30 baseline characteristics: 2397 patients undergoing PCI and 2397 patients undergoing CABG. The median follow-up was 5.2 years (interquartile range, 5.0-5.3). Patients who received PCI had significantly higher rates of mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.6; 95% CI, 1.3-1.7), death from cardiovascular disease (HR 1.4, 95% CI, 1.1-1.6), MACE (HR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.9-2.2), subsequent revascularization (HR, 3.7; 95% CI, 3.2-4.3), and hospitalization for MI (HR, 3.2; 95% CI, 2.6-3.8) and heart failure (HR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.3-1.6) compared with matched patients who underwent CABG.
Conclusions And Relevance:
In this study, higher rates of mortality and MACE were seen in patients who received PCI compared with those who underwent CABG. The findings may provide insight to physicians who are involved in decision-making for these patients.
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