Gender differences following percutaneous coronary intervention.

PCI is effective for reducing symptoms in patients with stable angina pectoris but does not improve prognosis. In earlier trials PCI has been associated with more procedure related complications in women than men, but this difference between genders has been less pronounced in more recent studies. In acute coronary syndromes there is no evidence of gender differences regarding the benefit of primary PCI for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. However, several trials of unstable angina and non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction indicate that women do not have the similar benefit of a routine, early, invasive treatment strategy compared with men.