Background: The first nationwide survey of the situation in Japan (the 1997 SJ) regarding percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) was conducted by the Japanese Coronary Intervention Study (JCIS) group and the results of the second nationwide, continuous survey of Japan in 2000 (the 2000 SJ) are presented here.
Methods & procedures: A questionnaire was collected from 8,268 facilities (99.93%). In the 2000 SJ, the total number of coronary arteriography (CAG) performed was 543,046 (428 CAGs per 105 population). The estimated ratio of CAG to patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) in Japan is approximately 1.4-fold that in the US. Total numbers of PCI and CABG performed were 146,992 and 23,584, and increased to 134% and 130%, respectively, over the 3 years. PCI facilities with an annual number of PCIs performed of more than 100 were 40.2%, and the respective CABG facilities were 8.3%. The ratio of PCI to CABG was 6.23 in the 2000 SJ, and was several times higher than the ratio in Western countries.
Conclusion: The situation in Japan regarding the number of CAG, PCI, and CABG procedures performed is very different from that in Western countries. This provides important information for diagnosis, treatment and guidelines for Japanese patients with CAD.