Have PTCA failures requiring emergent bypass operation changed?

From 1980 through 1990, 9,145 patients had balloon angioplasty with failure of the procedure requiring emergent surgical revascularization within 24 hours occurring in 253 patients (2.8%). Patients were divided into two cohorts based on the date of the percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA): 1980 to 1985 (n = 109) and 1986 to 1990 (n = 144). The incidence of PTCA failure was 3.8% during 1980 to 1985 (109/2,903) and decreased to 2.3% (144/6,242) for 1986 to 1990. Comparison of pre-PTCA patient characteristics between the two periods showed that only a history of a previous PTCA and class III or class IV symptoms were more common in the recent years ( p