Impact of the "stent-when-feasible" policy on in-hospital and 6-month success and complication rates after coronary angioplasty: single-center experience with 17,956 revascularization procedures (1993-1997).

This retrospective, observational, single-center study analyzed the results of a "stent-when-feasible" policy in a real-world setting. The study began in the "pre-stent" period (1993) and ended after the beginning of the "routine stent" period (1997). When the 1993 and 1997 global data were compared, the early and 6-month results included significant improvements in the rates of angiographic success (89.3% vs 97.1%), emergency surgical revascularization (1.0% vs 0.3%), freedom from in-hospital major events (91.2% vs 95.9%), and freedom from 6-month major events (77.2% vs 85.1%). The 6-month redo revascularization rate was reduced by almost half for "any catheter intervention" (19.6% vs 10.7%) and was lowest after stent use (7.7% in 1997).