Research results 'somewhat surprising' because patients are older, have more complicated disease
Results of a Mayo Clinic study show the incidence of stroke or mini-stroke related to a coronary angioplasty (http://www.mayoclinic.org/heart-catheterization/types.html) remained steady over a 15-year period. Researchers say this is good news because physicians now are performing the artery-opening procedure on older patients who are sicker and need more complicated treatment.
The results will be presented today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions (http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1200000) 2009 in Orlando, Fla.
Angioplasty, a procedure used to open clogged arteries, can improve chest pain or shortness of breath, or open an artery quickly to reduce damage to the heart during an attack. During angioplasty, also known as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), a tiny balloon is temporarily inserted and inflated to unclog and widen the artery. In some cases, a small metal coil called a stent is placed in the artery to keep it propped open.
In a retrospective study of 17,249 patients who had 21,502 angioplasty procedures between 1994 and 2008 at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., the researchers identified patients who suffered an angioplasty-related cerebrovascular accident (CVA), defined as a stroke, or a transient ischemic attack (TIA or mini-stroke), and compared outcomes with the remainder of the study population, according to senior author Rajiv Gulati, M.D., Ph.D. (http://www.mayoclinic.org/bio/13906658.html), a Mayo Clinic cardiologist. Eighty-four patients, or three or four in 1,000 patients, had a stroke or a TIA, and 23 percent of those were mini-strokes, Dr. Gulati says.
The low number of patients who had a stroke was somewhat surprising, he says. "Given that we are now dealing with older and sicker patients, with more extensive blockages requiring more complex treatment, we found the current incidence of stroke related to this procedure to still be very low indeed," he says.