We carried out a review that included results of randomized trials that made a comparison between percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). The 25 selected trials involved 12,305 patients, 11,103 of whom were from studies in patients with multi-vessel disease and 1,212 were from studies in patients with single lesion of the left anterior descending (LAD). In the studies of multivessel disease patients, the PCI showed a trend towards lower early mortality (1.2% versus 2%) and lower incidence of stroke: 0.7% versus 1.65%. There was no difference in the intermediate mortality (3.8% versus 3.8%). There was a trend towards the superiority of CABG in late mortality (10.5% versus 9.6%). The difference was exclusively due to "balloon era" studies, with a trend towards an inversion in the "stent era" (9.6% versus 9.9%). In studies of single lesion of LAD, there was no significant difference in any endpoint. The aggregation of results from nine studies that assessed late mortality in diabetic patients showed a difference in favor of surgery (21.3% versus 15.9%). Two studies that evaluated main coronary artery disease did not show a significant difference in mortality at one year (3.9% versus 4.7%). The incidence of repeat revascularization was consistently higher in PCI, despite the progressive improvement in results in the stent era.

Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in the Elderly: Impact of Advanced Age (> 80 Years) on the Clinical Profile and Immediate Results Background: With the increase in longevity observed in the last decades, percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) in octogenarians are increasingly recommended. However, they may not achieve the same results observed for younger elderly individuals. This study compared the profiles and immediate results of elderly patients > 80 and < 80 years of age. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study including 998 elderly patients treated from 2008 to 2010 at the Instituto Dante Pazzanese de Cardiologia, divided into two groups: group A, 192 (19.2%) octogenarians; and group B, 806 (81.8%) individuals with ages ranging from 70 to 79 years. Patients with clinical and angiographic indications for PCI were included according to the current guidelines. Results: Group A patients had a significant prevalence of chronic renal failure (78.6% vs. 54.8%; P < 0.01) and had a trend towards acute coronary syndrome (33.3% vs. 26.6%; P = 0.07). Type B2/C target lesions were also more frequent in group A (54.8% vs. 41.2%; P < 0.01), however, despite of these findings, these patients received less drug-eluting stents (18.1% vs. 31.2%; P < 0.01). There was no difference in mortality (0 vs 0.2%; P = 0.88) or in the rate of procedure-related myocardial infarction (5.7% vs. 3.3%; P = 0.18). Emergency CABG was not required in any of the patients. Conclusions: Octogenarians, who currently account for about 20% of the patients treated by PCI, had higher clinical and angiographic complexity, received less drug-eluting stents and had similar in-hospital results to the younger elderly individuals. KEY-WORDS:Angioplasty. Drug-eluting stents. Coronary disease. Aged. Aged, 80 and over.

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Long QT syndrome is one of the most feared entities in hospitalized patients due to the potential risk for ventricular tachycardia and sudden death. Association between channelopathies and congenital cardiomyopathy is a new entity that has been studied recently. We report an interesting case of this association that maybe related to a genetic mutation.