Temporal trends and patterns in percutaneous treatment of coronary artery disease in Poland in the years 2005–2011

Abstract

Background: According to a recent survey, Poland is one of the leaders of interventional cardiology in Europe in terms of the number of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures per million inhabitants.

Aim: To present temporal trends in epidemiology, demographics, treatment, and periprocedural outcome of patients referred for percutaneous coronary angiography and angioplasty in Poland in 2005–2011, based on the Polish National PCI Registry.

Methods: Patients who underwent percutaneous coronary angiography (ANGIO group) and/or angioplasty (PCI group) were included in the Polish National PCI Registry — a prospective observational registry study in Poland.

Results: There were 935,429 patients in the ANGIO group and 501,117 in the PCI group in Poland in 2005–2011. The number of catheterisation labs increased from 75 to 137, angiography procedures rose from 99,195 to 180,935, and PCIs from 50,297 to 99,614. The procedural mortality and stroke rates for the ANGIO group have remained stable whereas for the PCI group procedural mortality has increased over the years. The use of drug eluting stents (DESs) rose from 32.8% to 55.3% in stable angina and the use of a radial approach from 26.8% to 39.1%.

Conclusions: Use of modern attributes of interventional cardiology like DES stents, radial approach, and treatment of higher risk patients has increased in Poland in 2005–2011. The adoption of the “Stent for Life” initiative has resulted in an increasing number of percutaneous coronary procedures over the years.