The European registry of cardiac catheter interventions 1996.

Percutaneous coronary revascularization has been established in the past two decades as the leading therapy of coronary artery disease, the major cause of morbidity and mortality in the industrialized world. Although surgical or percutaneous coronary interventions do not provide a definitive cure for the disease, they profoundly improve symptoms and in part prognosis. This encouraging success, however, engenders growing health expenditures. An overview of the procedures performed is the first step towards an analysis of the interrelationship between economic possibilities and epidemiological necessities. The working group, Coronary Circulation of the European Society of Cardiology, initiated an annual survey of coronary interventions in European countries in 1992. The report pertaining to the year 1996 constitutes the fifth annual summary on cardiac interventions.