Interventional cardiology in Europe 1999

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 1 452 751 angiograms and 452 019 PTCAs were performed in 1999. This is an increase of 28% and 16%, respectively, compared with 1998. Most of these increases are due to high relative increases in eastern European countries. The number of PTCAs per 106 inhabitants rose to 714 in 1999. Coronary stenting increased by 31% to about 313 000 stents implanted in 1999. Complication rates remained stable, the need for emergency coronary artery bypass grafting showing a further slight decrease to currently 0.3%. Conclusion Interventional cardiology in Europe is still growing, mainly due to rapid growth in countries with lower socio-economical levels. In some central European countries a saturation seemed to be reached with only minor increases in procedures performed. Coronary stenting remains the only noteworthy and growing complement or alternative to balloon angioplasty.