ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To assess whether coronary stenting in diabetic patients provides in-hospital results and clinical evolution similar to those in nondiabetic patients. METHODS: From July `97 to April '99 we performed coronary stent implantation in 386 patients with coronary heart disease, who were divided into two groups: diabetic patients and nondiabetic patients. The in-hospital results and the clinical evolution of each group were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: The nondiabetic group comprised 305 (79 percent) patients and the diabetic group 81 (21 percent) patients. Basic clinical and angiographic characteristics were similar. Angiographic success was in diabetics = 96.6 percent vs in nondiabetics = 97.9 percent (p=ns). Among the major complications in the in-hospital phase, the rate of myocardial infarction was higher in the diabetic group (7.4 percent vs 1.9 percent) (p=0.022). In the follow-up, a favorable and homogeneous evolution occurred in regard to asymptomatic patients, myocardial infarction, and death in the groups. A greater need for revascularization, however, existed in the diabetic patients (15 percent vs 2.4 percent, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Coronary stenting in diabetic patients is an efficient procedure, with a high angiographic and clinical success rate similar to that in nondiabetic patients. Diabetic patients, however, had a higher incidence of in-hospital myocardial infarction and a greater need for additional myocardial revascularization