News: Researchers Identify Risk Factors for Angioplasty Complication

Physicians performing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) frequently encounter a number of challenges during the procedure. Among the complications is retroperitoneal hematoma, a condition associated with high mortality and morbidity. Identifying risk factors for this complication could lead to modifying angioplasty strategies to reduce the chance of occurrence. Mauro Moscucci, MD, MBA, professor and vice chair of medicine at the Miller School, led a study that has identified the prevalence and risk factors of retroperitoneal hematoma following an angioplasty procedure. Those results are published in the August issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Interventions. The data was compiled from a pool of more than 112, 000 patients who were part of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Cardiovascular Consortium (BMC2) Registry, and represents the largest experience of retroperitoneal hematoma (RPH) reported. Moscucci is currently consulting co-chair of the Consortium, which he developed in 1997 as a regional collaborative effort to improve quality of care and outcomes for patients who undergo PCI. Each of the patients for this study underwent PCI between October 2002 and December 2007. Complications related to angioplasty performed through the femoral artery continue to occur frequently. Detecting and managing issues that develop below the femoral artery are usually quick and are rarely eventful. However, a retroperitoneal hematoma can harbor a large volume of blood with minimal external signs, and it can lead to much more serious outcomes. Examining the data from this pool of patients, Moscucci and his colleagues identified a clear set of risk factors that appear to predict a greater chance of developing RPH. The research team found that RPH occurred more frequently in women; in patients with a smaller body surface area (

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