INTRODUCTION: The superiority of primary angioplasty compared to fibrinolytic agents has been broadly demonstrated in different studies, but due to logistic issues we have observed a delay in the implementation of the recommendations in real world scenarios. We compared primary angioplasty results at three different timepoints in the SOLACI Registry. METHOD: The SOLACI Registry included data of 43,725 primary angioplasties carried out from 1995-97 (n = 6,793), 2000-03 (n = 23,007) and 2007-08 (n = 13,925). RESULTS: An increasing complexity of treated patients was observed, with an increment in the percentage of women, diabetics, patients with prior myocardial infarction and patients with moderate to severe ventricular dysfunction. Procedural success remained high (> 91%) at all timepoints, regardless of the device used. In addition, we observed a significant decrease of door-to-balloon time, increased use of stents and a 45% decrease in the use of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors. Regarding in-hospital outcomes, a decreased mortality (9.1% vs. 5.3% vs. 4.5%), reinfarction (4.1% vs. 2.6% vs. 2.7%) and target vessel revascularization procedures (3.5% vs. 0.7% vs. 0.7%) was observed. CONCLUSION: Despite the more complex risk profile, the incorporation of technological advances and the reduction of door-to-balloon time led to improved inhospital cardiac outcomes after primary angioplasty in Latin America.
Angioplasty; Stents; Treatment outcome; Latin America
