Improvement in the quality of life is nowadays widely acknowledged as an important factor in assessment of the long-term outcome of the actually pursued treatment. Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) has been used in the treatment of coronary disease in ca. 1/3 of patients. The present study aimed to assess the quality of life in 567 patients successfully treated by PTCA in the period 1987-1996. In the observation period spanning 2.5-12 years (5.5 years on average) 26 patients (4.6%) died. A specially designed questionnaire was sent out to the remaining 541 patients, in which they were asked to attempt a subjective assessment of their general health condition and physical fitness, as well as to comment on the quality of their family and social life following angioplasty. The filled-in questionnaire was returned by 447 patients (82.6%). Their functional status, assessed in compliance with the CCS criteria, was perceptibly improved after the procedure and at the end of the observation period 70.5% of patients had no significant coronary complaints. A durable improvement after PTCA was claimed by 85.7% of patients, for 38.2% the result of PTCA turned out to be much better than originally expected, while 47.9% admitted that the procedure actually complied with their expectations. No improvement whatsoever was reported by 11.8%, while 2.3% of patients claimed their condition to have deteriorated since. In their own assessment, normal sexual life after PTCA was still pursued by 63.1% of patients, though men appeared to be more active in that domain than women (68.0% vs. 44.7%, p = 0.0001). Notable improvement was reported by 15.2%, while deterioration was claimed by 17.2%; in both cases it was significantly more frequent in men (improvement 17.0% vs 8.5%, p = 0.042, deterioration 19.5% vs 8.5%, p = 0.012). Angioplasty had no impact on their social relations in 78.8% of patients, while 21.2% of them are commonly perceived as the disabled persons. The need for psychotherapy (counselling) was expressed by 15.9%. The analysis of the key factors determining the actual quality of life in patients, carried out in the sub-groups, did not yield significant differences between the patients with stable and unstable angina, patients below and over 50 years of age, patients with complete and incomplete revascularisation, nor in patients who experienced or not, cardiac events during the follow-up. The significant differences between men and women were encountered only with respect to their sexual life. Diabetics in comparison with non-diabetics significantly more frequently reported improvement in their sexual life, full resumption of their non-occupational activities, generally showed more appreciation for the overall outcome of the PTCA procedure. Diabetics much less frequently experienced improvement in their general physical fitness, generally regarded the need for regular medical check-ups as a hindrance, as well as were more frequently perceived as the disabled persons. The working status of the patients after angioplasty failed to improve, however, as nearly half of them, despite the successfully completed procedure, was granted disability pensions or took advantage of the voluntary retirement schemes. Only 7.2% of the non-working patients well within their statutory employment age successfully returned to their employment, although not on a full-time basis. Patients who had completed their primary or secondary education were found to leave their employment twice more frequently than the ones with academic education. Similarly, patients living in the rural areas or in small towns (less than 40.000 inhabitants) left their employment twice more frequently than the ones living in major cities.
Conclusions: Both the functional status of patients and the majority of the analysed factors determining the quality of life--in the subjective assessment of those patients--improved significantly after a successful PTCA. This improvement is irrespective of the patients' age, symptoms of unstable angina during the procedure, extensiveness of revascularisation as well as cardiac events during the follow-up. Nearly half of the working patients tend to leave their employment after a successful percutaneous revascularisation, while the non-working patients are seldom prompted to resume their employment by the successful procedure. Patients with academic education, living in major cities, are usually found to resume their original employment most frequently.