BACKGROUND Research regarding long-term cognitive outcome following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) is inconsistent, which may be due in part to differential genetic and environmental influences within most study samples. METHODS The authors examined the effect of CABG on cognitive status change scores in members of the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Twins Registry...

BACKGROUND The Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation trial demonstrated that symptomatic diabetics with multivessel coronary artery disease had a survival advantage with initial coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) versus percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). No published study has examined different treatments and outcome in asymptomatic diabetics. METHODS AND RESULTS This...

BACKGROUND Although public release of quality information through report cards is intended to improve health care, there may be unintended consequences of report cards, such as physicians avoiding high-risk patients to improve their ratings. If physicians believe that racial and ethnic minorities are at higher risk for poor outcomes, report cards could worsen existing racial and ethnic disparit...

BACKGROUND Most studies that are the basis of recommended volume thresholds for percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) predate the routine use of stent placement. METHODS AND RESULTS Data from New York's Percutaneous Coronary Interventions Reporting System in 1998 to 2000 (n=107 713) were used to examine the impact of annual hospital volume and annual operator volume on in-hospital mortal...

Race and sex disparities are believed to play an important role in heart disease. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between race, sex, and number of diseased vessels at the time of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), and subsequent postoperative outcomes. The 13,774 patients undergoing first-time, isolated CABG between 1992 and 2011 were included. Trend in the number ...

BACKGROUND Bypass surgery in the elderly (age >70 years) has increased mortality and morbidity, which may be a consequence of cardiopulmonary bypass. We compare the outcomes of a cohort of elderly off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) patients with elderly conventional coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients. METHODS Chart and provincial cardiac care registry data were reviewed for ...

Case Report: Mrs. G is a 65year-old retired banker who has had Canadian Cardiovascular Society class III angina for the past 2 months and symptomatic intermittent claudication for the past year. Her past medical history is unremarkable except for the presence of multiple vascular risk factors (smoking, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes). Coronary angiography revealed triple vessel diseas...

BACKGROUND Few studies have compared change in the health-related quality of life (HRQL) following treatment of non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) with either percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). This study is to compare changes in HRQL six months after hospital discharge between NSTE-ACS patients who underwent either PCI or CABG. ...

Objectives Healthcare expenditure per-capita in the USA is higher than in England. We hypothesised that clinical outcomes after cardiac revascularisation are better in the USA. We compared costs and outcomes of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in England and New York State (NYS). Methods Costs and total mortality were asse...

BACKGROUND We retrospectively assessed the outcomes after coronary revascularization at a single Veterans Affairs Medical Center when a strategy of assigning higher risk patients to off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) was employed. METHODS Over a 5 year period all consecutive patients that underwent CABG at our VA Medical Center were assigned to a surgeon who either performs the C...