Laboratory test results as predictors of recurrent coronary artery stenosis following angioplasty.

A retrospective study has been conducted to examine the potential value of a battery of selected clinical laboratory tests as predictors of recurrent coronary artery stenosis following angioplasty. Data from 443 patients (including 325 men and 118 women) who had undergone coronary angioplasty were analyzed. Total men, total women, aspirin-treated men, and aspirin-treated women received separate statistical treatment. The only statistically significant difference in mean laboratory values between success (no recurrent stenosis) and recurrence groups was for serum cholesterol in aspirin-treated women, where the recurrence group showed a higher value than the success group. Multiple logistic regression showed a statistically significant association between elevated mean cholesterol and low mean hemoglobin concentration and recurrence in the female aspirin-treated group. Although only a small number of the laboratory test results fell outside normal laboratory reference ranges, we noted that for some tests, patients with extreme values predominantly developed recurrent stenosis while for certain other tests they were mainly successful. For example, seven of eight male diabetics with plasma glucose concentrations above 9.4 mmol/L (170 mg/dL) developed recurrence, while recurrent stenosis did not occur in any of six men with a bleeding time greater than twice normal. The results of these studies do not support the hypothesis that lipoprotein, coagulation, and platelet factors influence the development of recurrent stenosis in the majority of patients, although abnormalities in certain of these parameters may contribute to the process in specific cases.