Percutaneous coronary interventions in Europe 2000

Aims The purpose of this registry is to collect data on trends in interventional cardiology within Europe. Special interest focuses on relative increases and ratios in newer revascularization approaches and its distribution in different regions in Europe. Methods and results Questionnaires distributed to delegates of the national societies of cardiology represented in the European Society of Cardiology to be completed by local institutions and operators yielded that 1 637 148 angiograms and 525 983 coronary angioplasty (PTCAs) were performed in 2000. This is an increase of 15% and 23%, respectively, compared with 1999, particularly due to increases in eastern European countries. The population-adjusted PTCA rate rose from 714 procedures per 106 inhabitants in 1999 to approximately 800 procedures per 106 inhabitants in the year 2000. Coronary stenting increased by 26% to about 395 000 stented cases in 2000. Complication rates remained unchanged, the need for emergency coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) further decreased to 0.2% per percutaneous intervention. Conclusion Interventional cardiology in Europe is still expanding, mainly due to rapid growth in countries with lower socioeconomical levels. Most central European countries reported only minor increases in procedures performed. Coronary stenting remains the only noteworthy adjunctive or alternative strategy to balloon angioplasty.