Clinical outcome of a cohort of patients eligible for therapeutic angiogenesis or transmyocardial revascularisation

Background Newer methods of coronary revascularization are being investigat ed in patients who are not candidates For coronary artery bypass grafting o r percutaneous intervention. Our objective was to determine the proportion of patients eligible For newer methods of revascularization and determine t heir 1-year clinical outcome. Methods Five hundred consecutive charts and angiograms from patients underg oing diagnostic angiography for coronary artery disease from January to May of 1998 were reviewed to assess the suitability for revascularization. Pat ients ineligible for conventional revascularization were followed up for 1 year. Results Fifty-nine patients of the 500 studied were identified who had refr actory ischemia but were not candidates for traditional revascularization. The 59 patients ineligible for traditional methods of revascularization had a rehospitalization rate of 128% (76 total hospitalizations), a 25.5% rate of myocardial infarction (15 of 59), and a mortality rate of 16.9% (10 of 59). Conclusions The prognosis of many patients eligible for newer methods of re vascularization on maximal medical therapy is poor.