Research Spotlight: Percutaneous Coronary Interventions in New York

Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCIs) are commonly performed procedures that open up narrowed blood vessels of the heart to help treat coronary artery disease.

After studies reported that as the number of PCIs performed by a hospital or an operator increased, the number of adverse outcomes for PCI patients decreased, leading professional organizations recommended a minimum volume of PCIs for hospitals and operators.

It was recommended that hospitals complete at least 200 PCIs and operators conduct at least 50 PCIs each year; however, little is known about how the amount of procedures may be related to long-term adverse outcomes. Drs. Qian, Zhong, and Hannan at the University at Albany School of Public Health recently studied 34,498 patients who underwent PCI procedures from December 2013 through November 2014 at 60 hospitals and under 408 operators in New York.

Results showed that there was a significant continuous inverse association between 1-year mortality and annual provider volume, but there was no significant relationships for the values of 200 (suggested for the hospitals) and 50 (suggested for the operators).

“This suggests that regulatory volume requirements may not be effective, but that patients may benefit from undergoing PCI procedures performed by the highest volume providers and by avoiding the lowest volume providers,” says Dr. Qian.

Full results can be found in the American Journal of Cardiology.

Pictured: Dr. Qian, real-world outcomes researcher with a clinical background in cardiac surgery and an MBA degree from Columbia Business School.