[Cardiac interventions in Switzerland].

The activity of the working group PTCA and Fibrinolysis of the Swiss Society of Cardiology from spring 1990 to spring 1991 is reported. It included a survey of fibrinolysis for acute myocardial infarction, therapeutic cardiac catheter interventions, and heart operations in Switzerland in 1990. Of the 6096 patients admitted for acute infarction to the participating hospitals, 1768 (29%) underwent fibrinolysis. The number of coronary angiograms performed was 12,501, a 10% increase over the previous year. One third were performed in private hospitals. The number of coronary angioplasties (PTCA) was 2323, a 20% increase. Every fourth PTCA was done in a private hospital. The percentage of PTCAs to coronary angiograms varied from 3 to 35%. There was no correlation to the percentage of multivessel PTCAs. This indicates earlier diagnosis of coronary disease (single vessel disease) in hospitals with increased PTCA activity. The number of bypass operations was 3471. Although the overall figure was higher than that of PTCA, this ratio was balanced or inversed in 3 university hospitals. As for new techniques of interventional cardiology, 24 stents were implanted and 10 atherectomies performed. Moreover, there were 39 valvuloplasties (8 aortic, 20 mitral, and 11 pulmonary), 5 closures of the patent ductus arteriosus, and 24 interventions for arrhythmia (pacemakers excluded). The noncoronary heart operations comprised 694 aortic, 292 mitral, and 100 aorto-mitral operations, 523 operations for congenital or acquired defects, 38 operations for arrhythmia, and 42 transplantations. The development of surgical and nonsurgical cardiac interventions in recent years is characterized by increasing dominance of PTCA in comparison to bypass surgery in most university hospitals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)