EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF EARLY CORONARY STENTING FOR UNSTABLE ANGINA

To determine the efficacy and safety of early coronary stenting for un stable angina, we studied 91 consecutive patients with unstable angina . Thirty-one patients underwent stenting 72 h or more after admission, and another 60 patients underwent stenting within 72 h of admission. The clinical and angiographic follow-up had been done for 6 mo. There were no differences between the baseline clinical and angiographic cha racteristics of both groups. The maximum balloon pressure was higher ( 14.1 +/- 1.2 vs. 12.6 +/- 0.9, P < 0.01) and the hospital stay was sho rter (9.7 +/- 2.7 vs. 18.7 +/- 5.8 d, P < 0.0001) in the early stentin g group, These two groups were similar in the clinical success rate (9 0.0% vs. 93.5%), without any abrupt closure, subacute thrombosis, deat h, myocardial infarction, or coronary bypass surgery. These findings i ndicate that early stenting can be useful in patients with unstable an gina. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.