Background: The dynamic development of interventional cardiology resulted in an increasing proportion of patients treated with various forms of coronary angioplasty instead of surgery. On the other hand, it has been well established that the results of coronary artery by-pass surgery of the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery with the use of the internal mammary artery are excellent.
Aim: To compare the results of primary direct stenting (PDS) and endoscopic atraumatic coronary artery bypass (EACAB) surgery in patients with an isolated proximal LAD type A or B1 lesion.
Methods: This prospective and randomised study included 100 patients with an isolated critical (> or =70%) LAD stenosis who underwent PDS (n=50) or EACAB (n=50).
Results: After a six-month follow-up period, 32 (64%) PDS patients and 47 (94%) EACAB patients were angina-free. The rate of major cardiac adverse events (MACE) was significantly higher in the PDS group than in surgically treated patients (p<0.05). After one year of follow-up, 40 (80%) PDS-treated patients and all 50 EACAB patients had no recurrences of angina. After two-year follow-period, the survival rate without MACE was significantly higher in the EACAB group than in the PDS-treated patients (94% vs 76%, p<0.05).
Conclusions: Minimally invasive cardiac surgery is an alternative method to direct stenting in the treatment of patients with proximal LAD stenosis.