Between 1980 and 1990, 1,664 coronary angioplasty procedures were performed in 1,307 patients (86.6% male) with multivessel disease. The average age was 57 +/- 3 years (range 29 to 83 years). There was a previous history of infarction in 40.1% of patients and 22.4% of the procedures were performed for unstable angina. Catheter and 58.2%, 1,220 double vessel and 444 triple vessel diseases. A total of 2,509 lesions were dilated (1.5 stenoses/patient). The primary success rate was 81.9% with 3.2% of infarcts and 3.5% emergency bypass procedures and a global mortality of 2%. The factors responsible for death in the acute and hospital phases were unstable angina, age > 70 years, and ejection fraction < 35%. Complete revascularisation was achieved in 14.3% of cases: the only predictive factor for complete revascularisation on multivariate analysis was double vessel disease. A 6 months clinical and angiographic control was obtained for 83.8% of controllable procedures (965 dilatations). The restenosis rate was 47.9%. Univariate analysis of the factors of restenosis identified clinical parameters (age > 58 years, triple vessel disease, diabetes and unstable angina), parameters related to the lesion (length of stenosis > 1 cm, percentage stenosis > 80%) and to the procedure (residual stenosis > 20%): 68.4% of patients with restenosis underwent repeat angioplasty with a significantly superior primary success rate 88.7% vs 81.9% of global successes (p < 0.001). With a 82% primary success rate with few major complications, coronary angioplasty is a safe and effective therapeutic alternative. The extent of the lesions and the presence of chronic occlusion are the main limitating factors of revascularisation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)