ecently, the BARI study reported that the beneficial effect of bypass surgery on long-term survival was more prominent than that of coronary angioplasty in diabetic patients with multivessel coronary artery disease, 1 related, at least in part, to the disadvantage of coronary angioplasty in such patients; that is, the coronary narrowing in diabetic patients is usually diffuse and small, which results in a small minimal lumen diameter after the intervention and a high restenosis rate. 2,3 Another possible explanation is the general disadvantage of coronary angioplasty in achieving complete revascularization compared with bypass surgery in patients with multivessel disease. In fact, multivessel angioplasties were attempted in 70% of the patients in the BARI study and immediate success was achieved in 78%. 1 Thus, incomplete revascularization may contribute to the difference of survival in the 2 groups. To avoid this problem in the interpretation of the study results from patients with multivessel coronary disease, we investigated the long-term prognosis in diabetic and non-diabetic patients with isolated proximal left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) disease, because LAD disease has Circulation Journal Vol. 66, June 2002 been reported to have significant survival importance. 4 From 1985From to 1994 consecutive patients who underwent their first elective coronary angiography were identified from the computer database at the National Cardiovascular Center and of these, 681 had isolated proximal LAD disease with more than 90% stenosis. Fourteen patients treated with bypass surgery were excluded and the remaining 667 were enrolled in the present study. They were divided into 2 groups according to their diabetic status: diabetes mellitus (DM) or abnormal glucose tolerance (n=225) and non-diabetic (n=442). They were further subdivided into 2 groups according to the initial therapeutic choice: medical therapy (MED group) or percutaneous transluminal balloon coronary angioplasty (PTCA group). Our definitions of coronary risk factors were: hypertension was defined as more than 140 mmHg systolic blood pressure and/or 90 mmHg diastolic blood pressure; hyperlipidemia was defined as more than 220 mg/dl of total serum cholesterol; DM was diagnosed according to WHO criteria. 5
Methods
Patients
Coronary Angiography and AngioplastyDiagnostic coronary angiography and left ventriculography were performed using a non-ionic contrast medium (Iopamiron 370, Schering Inc or Iomeron, Eisai Inc). The cine-angiography equipment had a bi-plane system (Toshiba Although long-term survival of diabetic patients with multivessel coronary disease has been reported to be better in those treated with bypass surgery than with coronary angioplasty, it is unclear if diabetic patients who undergo coronary angioplasty show better long-term survival than those treated medically. Between 1985 and 1994, 667 consecutive patients with isolated severe (≥90% diameter stenosis) proximal left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery disease were...