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UTILIZATION OF PERCUTANEOUS TRANSLUMINAL CORONARY ANGIOPLASTY FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE IN HEALTH CARE FROM 1983 TO 1996
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 1999
Abstract
Objectives: To examine the distribution of interventional cardiac catheterization laboratories, their case load, the time trends, and the regional variation of percutaneous transluminal cutaneous angioplasty (PTCA) utilization in Italy.
Methods: Analysis of data was provided by the annual reports of the Italian Group of Studies and Interventional Cardiology over the period from 1983 to 1996.
Results: The number of PTCA facilities and their use steadily increased, mainly in the North. In 1996 the utilization rate was 34 per 100,000 population, but only 60% of labs performed 200 or more procedures.
Conclusions: Dramatic time trends and regional variations often took place without an epidemiology and technology assessment-based planning process.
Keywords
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , July 1999 , pp. 473 - 479
- Copyright
- © 1999 Cambridge University Press