Background: Newer methods of coronary revascularization are being investigated in patients who are not candidates for coronary artery bypass grafting or percutaneous intervention. Our objective was to determine the proportion of patients eligible for newer methods of revascularization and determine their 1-year clinical outcome.
Methods: Five hundred consecutive charts and angiograms from patients undergoing diagnostic angiography for coronary artery disease from January to May of 1998 were reviewed to assess the suitability for revascularization. Patients ineligible for conventional revascularization were followed up for 1 year.
Results: Fifty-nine patients of the 500 studied were identified who had refractory 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 revascularization on maximal medical therapy is poor.