Do elderly patients benefit from recent advances in the treatment of ischemic heart disease?

Abstract

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with a transradial approach can be performed in very elderly patients with ischemic heart disease. In our hospital, 20% of elderly patients, who did not undergo emergency PCI for acute coronary syndrome (ACS), died. In contrast, only 7.3% of the elderly patients with ACS (80–98 yrs old, mean age 85 ± 4 years) died, and 4.6% of those (66–79 yrs old, mean age 73 ± 4 years) died after successful emergency PCI. In-hospital major adverse cardiovascular events were associated with anemia, CRP levels at admission, max CK-MB, and the number of involved vessels. The long-term prognosis of the elderly patients after emergency PCI was good with optimum medication, and it was associated with max CK-MB and renal function. Therefore, the indications for emergency PCI for elderly patients with ACS should be identical to that for young patients. However, elderly patients with ACS often show ambiguous symptoms, which make it difficult for them to undergo emergency PCI. Dementia and renal dysfunction are also problematic. On the other hand, improvement in the long-term prognosis of chronic ischemic heart disease by PCI has been shown in elderly patients, but not in younger patients. Observational monitoring showed a better mid-term prognosis after PCI with drug-eluting stent, but bare metal stents are preferable in cases of elderly patients with ACS. © 2012, The Japan Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved.