Background: Retrospective studies in dialysis patients have reported increased survival after coronary artery bypass (CAB) compared with coronary artery stenting and PTCA. The purpose of this study was to compare the long-term outcome of renal transplant recipients after stent, PTCA, or CAB with or without internal mammary grafting (CAB [IMG+] or CAB [IMG-]).
Methods and results: Renal transplant recipients hospitalized from 1995 to 1999 for first coronary revascularization procedure were retrospectively identified from the United States Renal Data System database. Event-free survival for the end points of all-cause death, cardiac death, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and the combined end point of cardiac death or AMI was estimated by the life-table method. The impact of independent predictors on survival was examined in a comorbidity-adjusted Cox model. In-hospital mortality rate was 2.3% for 909 stent patients, 4.3% for 652 PTCA patients, 9.4% for 288 CAB (IMG-) patients, and 5.0% for 812 CAB (IMG+) patients. Two-year all-cause survival (+/-SE) was: stent, 82.5+/-2.8%; PTCA, 81.6+/-3.1%; CAB (IMG-), 74.4+/-5.4%; and CAB (IMG+), 82.7+/-2.8%. The relative risks of all-cause and cardiac death were not significantly different among revascularization groups. The relative risk of cardiac death or AMI (versus PTCA) was 0.90 (95% CI, 0.69 to 1.17) for stent, 0.80 (95% CI, 0.55 to 1.17) for CAB (IMG-), and 0.57 (95% CI, 0.42 to 0.76) for CAB (IMG+).
Conclusions: Renal transplant recipients in the United States have comparable long-term survival after percutaneous and surgical coronary revascularization procedures. The most favorable long-term outcome occurs after surgical coronary revascularization.