Myocardial revascularization in patients with end-stage renal disease: Comparison of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and coronary artery bypass grafting

Background: Ischemic heart disease is the major cause of death in patients with end-stage renal disease. The high prevalence of coronary artery disease results in a rising number of dialysis patients requiring myocardial revascularisation. Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the outcomes of recurrent angina, myocardial infarction, rate of reinterventions and cardiovascular death following percutaneous coronary angioplasty (PTCA) or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients with end-stage renal disease. Patients and methods: In a retrospective investigation 40 patients with chronic renal failure undergoing primarily PTCA and 65 patients undergoing CABG were included. Both groups were comparable for gender, duration on dialysis and the number of cardiovascular risk factors per patient. Patients undergoing PTCA were younger (53 ± 12 years vs. 57 ± 8 years; p < 0.05) and more often diabetics (30% vs. 14%; p < 0.05). Results: Most patients in both groups had a multi-vessel disease (95% in the CABG group vs. 74% in the PTCA group), in the CABG group there were significantly more patients with a triple-vessel disease (62% with vs. 40% in the PTCA group; p < 0.01), PTCA was primarily successful in 95% of the patients while complete revascularization was achieved in 88% of patients undergoing CABG. The perioperative mortality after CABG was 4.8% as compared to none after interventional revascularisation. The cumulative freedom of angina after 6, 12 and 24 months after intervention was significantly lower after PTCA (54%, 40%, 29%) than after bypass grafting (97%, 94%, 90%, p < 0.001). The frequency of reinterventions following PTCA was significantly higher compared to patients following CABG (p < 0.001). After PTCA 15 patients needed further revascularisations, 8 of them underwent CABG, whereas after CABG only two patients required additional myocardial revascularisation. There was no significant difference in the overall mortality between both groups; the survival rate after 12 and 24 months was 95% and 82% after PTCA and 93% and 86% after CABG, respectively. Condition: Although patients receiving CABG had a more severe coronary artery disease the overall mortality was comparable and clinical and functional outcome was improved compared to patients after coronary angioplasty.