Exploring the Volume-Outcome Relationship for PCI Procedures Undertaken in a UK Context: A NICOR Study

The relationship between annual procedural volume and patient outcome remains a debated issue in the field of interventional medicine. An under-explored issue in a UK context is whether or not such a relationship exists for percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). In recent years, this procedure has replaced thrombolysis as the standard intervention method used in UK hospitals for widening patients' obstructed coronary arteries. However, the actual number of such procedures currently undertaken annually remains variable across hospitals where these interventions are performed. The UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has consequently called for research into whether such differences in volume play any role in patient outcome for this particular procedure. The current study is intended to address that research need, and will do so by looking at whether the annual number of PCI procedures undertaken by individual hospitals is predictive of patient mortality post-procedure.