Determinants of risk for coronary artery bypass grafting in stable and unstable angina pectoris

Abstract

Although the operative risk and morbidity associated with coronary artery bypass grafting for chronic stable angina is exceptionally low, clinical and angiographic factors exist that may predict differing outcomes in patient subsets. Forty-five variables were prospectively recorded on all 1302 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting at Toronto General Hospital over a 24-month period. Twelve selected variables were analysed by univariate and multivariate techniques. The patients were divided in two groups depending upon their clinical presentation (stable versus unstable angina) and the timing of surgery (elective versus urgent). The results of risk-factor analysis revealed that the unstable cohort had four predictors for operative mortality: sex, age, left ventricular function and left main coronary stenosis greater than 50%, whereas the stable cohort had only three predictors: sex, age and left ventricular function. The results for postoperative morbidity (perioperative myocardial infarction or low-output syndrome) showed that the unstable cohort had six predictors: sex, age, left ventricular function, timing of surgery, extent of coronary artery disease and the type of myocardial protection used. The stable cohort had only three predictors of morbidity, the same as for mortality. This analysis of multiple risk factors on patients grouped according to stability and timing of surgery clearly demonstrated determinants of risk in the two groups (operative mortality for the stable group of 2.9% versus 5.4% for the unstable group, and perioperative infarction rate for the stable group of 9.1% and for the unstable group of 13.7%).