Abstract
In this report we review the pharmaceutical therapy still used after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) and we compare the effectiveness of these procedures in reducing the intake of medications. In the surgical group (n = 848 patients), nitrate usage drops from 86% of cases before surgery to 26% three years after surgery, while beta-blocker usage shows a similar decline from 86 to 39% . In the PTCA group (n = 645 patients) at a median follow-up of 19 months, 35% of patients were using beta-blocker and 26% nitrates. In the surgical as well as in the PTCA group only 17% of the patients were on no medication. This high percentage of patients using medication is worrying and probably does not reflect the success of PTCA and CABG. The need for careful and thoughtful evaluation of patient symptoms after these procedures is important to arrive at the correct diagnosis and to reduce medication usage.
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