Composite Outcomes in Coronary Bypass Surgery Versus Percutaneous Intervention

This study assessed nonfatal outcomes comparing CABG to PCI for pts with multivessel CAD identified in national registries.  The outcome was the composite of death, MI, or stroke.  Registry data were linked to Medicare data to obtain outcomes and pts were propensity score matched.  The authors identified a total of 86,244 CABG and 103,549 PCI pts.  At 4 yrs in matched cohorts, MI incidence was 3.2% after CABG and 6.6% after PCI.  Stroke incidence was 4.5% in CABG and 3.1% in PCI pts; the difference was primarily due to the 30-day stroke rate after CABG.  The composite index incidence was 21.6% for CABG and 26.7 % for PCI.