Organization, structure and data of the Hellenic Heart Registry on Percutaneous Coronary Interventions: a step forward towards outcomes research.

INTRODUCTION The Hellenic Heart Registry on Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (HHR-PCI) was a prospective, observational registry of patients with stable angina or acute coronary syndromes who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) between January 2008 and October 2010. METHODS HHR-PCI was a database that used a secure web-based interface for data entry by individual users. All PCI centers and operators were invited to participate. The participating PCI centers were geographically divided into three main regions: Athens Metro Area, Thessaloniki Metro Area, and Rest of Greece. Indications, demographics, procedural characteristics, and in-hospital outcomes (death, myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accidents) were recorded. RESULTS Eighteen (18) centers participated in the registry (2008-2010) in a systematic fashion, entering complete data for 3441 patients (males 83.1%, mean age 64.1 years, 5521 lesions). PCI was elective in 47.1% of patients and was used to treat an acute coronary syndrome in 52.5%. There were 742 (21.6%) patients treated for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, with 225 (30.3%) receiving primary PCI (mean door-to-balloon time 140 minutes). The mean numbers of stents per lesion and per patient were 1.14 and 1.74, respectively, with drug eluting stents being used in 74.2% of coronary lesions. Periprocedural complications were observed in 105 patients (3.1%), while the incidence of in-hospital death, myocardial infarction, and cerebrovascular event were 0.5%, 1%, and 0.6%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS HHR-PCI was the first web-based national PCI registry in Greece and has provided useful insights regarding the practice of interventional cardiology in this country. Efforts should be made to maintain and extend this type of PCI registry, with a view to improving quality and outcomes research in the field of interventional cardiology.