eEvolution of percutaneou p E

taneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) with epidemiological and economic implications. Methods Coronary interventions were polled by question-naires distributed to all institutions performing cardiac catheterization. Aggregated country data of the years 1992– 1996 on indication, type of procedure, technique, and from 1·0 to 1·8 R/SDR and 40 to 61 R/GDP in the central European group compared with an increase from 0·06 to 0·18 R/SDR and 43 to 85 R/GDP in the eastern group. Conclusions An overall increase in PTCAs at an annual rate between 15 and 25 % was observed. The wide variation in the use of PTCA in Europe appears to be dependent mostly on economic factors and national health care (PTCA) has seen a most spectacular success and has become the most frequently performed major interven-intervention in acute myocardial infarction[6]. The exponential development of medicine hastion in medicine. It affords a non-surgical treatment for the disease, which remains the primary cause of mor-bidity and mortality in the Western World. This tech-nique has created a branch of industry with an estimated minimum turnover of 2 billion US dollars worldwide, assuming 1 million interventions at a cost of US $2000 per case; U.S. average costs of one PTCA were esti-mated at ten times this sum in 1995[2]. imposed economic limits on health care costs. In the most prosperous European countries, spending on health care amounts to more than 10 % of gross domestic product[7]. The dogma with which the present generation of physicians has grown up — no cost is too high for saving a life or improving the health of a human being — is increasingly challenged. This health– economic impact necessitates an account of PTCAs performed as a first approach at quality control