Aims: This registry has aimed to collect data on cardiac catheterisation procedures in Europe in 2006.
Methods and results: Numbers and types of procedures were collected by means of a standardised questionnaire from all adult percutaneous cardiac intervention centres in Europe. Questionnaires were collected from all national member societies of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI): 23 of 30 countries provided data. The analyses were performed for all countries based on the most up-to-date available data. With 2.5 million coronary angiographies performed, the overall number of diagnostic procedures continues to increase (+8%) at a faster rate than the population (+0.6%). The number of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI: >1 million) paralleled this increment (+10%). A marked disparity prevails between different countries in Europe. There was a comparative slight reduction in the stenting/PCI ratio (0.85). Use of drug-eluting stents (DES) remained virtually unchanged in comparison to the previous report, despite "safety concern warnings" regarding their use in 2006.
Conclusions: Interventional cardiology in European countries is ever expanding. Despite the drug eluting stent firestorm that took place in the course of 2006, the number of implanted DES even increased slightly. Mortality and complications remained low. Among the noncoronary procedures, percutaneous shunt closures increased, albeit moderately.