Short and long term outcome of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty in unstable versus stable angina pectoris: A report of the 1985-1986 nhlbi ptca registry

In a cohort of 1,720 consecutive patients from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA) Registry (August 1985–May 1986), we compared 768 patients (45%) with stable angina and 952 patients (55%) with unstable angina pectoris. Unstable angina patients exhibited at least one of the following characteristics: new onset angina, rapidly progressing angina, angina at rest, angina refractory to medication, variant angina, acute coronary insufficiency, or angina recurring shortly after an acute myocardial infarct. The distribution of single‐ and multi‐vessel disease was similar among stable and unstable angina patients; multi‐vessel disease predominated. Average severity of stenosis and incidence of tubular and diffuse stenosis morphology were higher among patients with unstable angina (both p