Short Term and Long Term Complications after Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA)

Abstract

Background: The nonsurgical treatment of arteries narrowed by atherosclerosis was introduced in 1964, when Dotter and Judkin performed transluminal angioplasty of femoral artery stenoses [1]. In 1970, Gruntzig modified the dilation catheter to allow its use in coronary arteries dilation [2]. Subsequently, In 1977 he performed the first Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA) in a patient. Since onward, PTCA has been used in many patients with stable angina, unstable angina or acute myocardial infarction. Its use was initially limited to the treatment of discrete stenoses in proximal segment of a coronary artery, but improvements in equipments and techniques have lead its use in patients with stenoses, that are more complex or located in distal arterial segments and in patients relatively at high risk for complications [3]. Despite the wider application of PTCA, the success rate remained high. Over the past decade, the number of procedure performed has steadily increased, with over 300,000 performed in united state in 1990 [4].