Long-term survival after coronary bypass surgery and percutaneous coronary intervention

OBJECTIVES: To assess whether there exists a long-term difference in survival after treatment with coronary bypass surgery or percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with coronary disease as judged by all-cause mortality. METHODS: Retrospective study from the Feiring Heart Clinic database of survival in 22 880 patients—15 078 treated with percutaneous coronary intervention and 7802 with bypass surgery followed up to 16 years. RESULTS: Cox regression and propensity score analysis showed no difference in survival for one-vessel and two-vessel disease during the whole study period. In three-vessel disease, however, the analysis revealed a consistent and highly significant survival benefit in the first 8 years with an HR of 0.76 (95% CI 0.69 to 0.84, p<0.001) in favour of bypass surgery with similar survival rates in the two treatment strategies after that time period. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment strategy did not affect survival in one-vessel and two-vessel disease, but bypass surgery offered an improved survival in the first 8 years in patients with three-vessel disease. These results are consistent with most previous reports and the survival benefit should be taken into account when selecting a strategy for this patient group.