HEALTH AFTER CORONARY STENTING OR BALLOON ANGIOPLASTY - RESULTS FROM THE STENT RESTENOSIS STUDY

This study was designed to compare health-related quality of life (HRQ OL) in patients undergoing coronary stenting or balloon angioplasty in the randomized Stent Restenosis Study. The study sample was drawn fro m patients at nine U.S. clinical sites of the Stent Restenosis Study, a randomized trial comparing Palmaz-Schatz coronary stent implantation with conventional balloon angioplasty. One hundred ninety-nine consec utive patients were sent surveys 6 to 18 months after enrollment and 1 60 (80%) were returned. The survey sent to the patients included the M edical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form Health Survey, the Canadian C ardiovascular Society Classification, and the Duke Activity Status Ind ex. Although patients who underwent stenting had less angiographic res tenosis and a tendency for fewer ischemic events, there were few diffe rences in HRQOL after a mean of 456 days after randomization. The grou p that underwent stenting reported significantly less bodily pain than the group that underwent angioplasty (p = 0.02). Otherwise, there wer e no significant differences in generic or disease-specific measures. In a rating of their overall health, 47% of the group that underwent s tenting and 45% of the group that underwent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty reported very good or excellent health. In each g roup, 60% of the patients reported being symptom Free from a cardiovas cular perspective. This survey revealed no marked differences in long- term HRQOL between patients who underwent Palmaz-Schatz coronary stent ing compared with those who underwent conventional angioplasty.