Risk Score Predicts Angioplasty Outcomes

How to predict outcomes for common heart procedures is the focus of a Mayo Clinic study presented this week at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Chicago.  Researchers looked at the outcomes of over 8000 procedures performed by 21 interventional cardiologists.

"We've been interested in prediction of outcomes after coronary angioplasty and stent procedures for some time,” says Mayo Clinic Cardiologist, Dr. Charanjit Rihal. “Almost ten years ago, we published a paper called ‘The Mayo Clinic Risk Score for Prediction of Adverse Events following Coronary Angioplasty and Stent Procedures’. We've since refined into the ‘New Mayo Clinic Risk Score’, which includes seven key variables that predict bad outcomes following PCI procedures.”

Dr. Rihal says, “On an individual basis, we were able to calculate the expected mortality and adverse event rate and compare that to the actual observed mortality and adverse event rate. We were able to show that in our clinical practice of PCI, this risk score was very useful as a performance measure."

Soundbites from Dr. Rihal are in the downloads above.