Stress Testing Before Elective Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Contrary to guideline recommendations, most patients with stable coronary disease who undergo PCI do not have preprocedural stress testing to document ischemia.

Current guidelines recommend documenting ischemia before elective percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with stable coronary artery disease. To determine the rate of stress testing before elective PCI, investigators retrospectively studied claims data from a random sample of 20% of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries who had elective PCI in 2004.

Overall, 44.5% of 23,887 eligible patients (60.3% male; 92.7% white) underwent stress testing within 90 days before elective PCI. In unadjusted analyses, the rates of pre-PCI stress testing were higher in older than in younger patients and were higher in patients with angina, established CAD, prior cardiac catheterization, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or congestive heart failur…

Reviewing Author

Joel M. Gore, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNIH–National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Joel M. Gore, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNIH–National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute