Guidance for PCI Without Onsite Surgical Backup Updated

The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions has issued an updated expert consensus statement to provide clearer guidance on what percutaneous coronary angioplasty cases can be done in outpatient settings such as ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and office-based laboratories and which are best left to more traditional settings, such as hospitals with full cardiac support.

PCI has evolved quickly since SCAI issued its last update almost 9 years ago. The updated statement, published online in the Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, notes that the proportion of same-day PCI discharges has increased from 4.5% in 2009 to 28.6% in 2017.

The statement also notes that the Medicare facility fee for outpatient PCI in an ASC is about 40% less than the hospital fee: $6,111 versus $10,258 for the facility fee for 2022. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in 2020 extended coverage for PCIs in ASCs.

Rationale for update

Writing group chair Cindy Grines, MD, explained the rationale for updating the statement now. “The 2014 SCAI statement was very conservative, recommending only the simplest of cases be done without surgical backup,” Dr. Grines, chief scientific officer at Northside Hospital Cardiovascular Institute in Atlanta, said in an interview.

The statement drew on 12 global studies from 2015 to 2022 that evaluated more than 8 million PCIs at facilities with and without surgery on site. Dr. Grines noted those studies reported complication rates as low as 0.1% in PCI procedures in centers without surgical backup.

She also noted that the writing committee also received input that “by restricting the use of certain devices such as atherectomy, some patients who needed it as a bailout could be harmed.”

Another factor in prompting the statement update, Dr. Grines said: “Many hospitals have consolidated into heath systems, and these systems consolidated bypass surgery into one center. Therefore, centers with high volume, experienced operators, and excellent outcomes were now left with no surgery on site. It didn’t make sense to withdraw complex PCI from these centers who haven’t sent a patient for emergency bypass in several years.”

Statement guidance

The centerpiece of the update is an algorithm that covers the range of settings for PCI, from having a surgeon on site to ACS or office-based lab.

For example, indications for on-site surgical capability are PCI of the last remaining patent vessel or retrograde approach to epicardial chronic total occlusion (CTO), and when the patient is a candidate for surgery.

Indications for PCI in a hospital without on-site surgery but with percutaneous ventricular assist device or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, calcium modification devices and high PCI volume are patients with decreased left ventricular ejection fraction, unprotected left main artery, CTO, or degenerated vein grafts.

For patients at high risk for transfusion, acute kidney injury or vascular complications, or who have high baseline respiratory risk, a hospital without on-site surgery but with respiratory care, blood bank, and vascular surgery services is indicated.

And for patients with none of the aforementioned characteristics or risks, ASC, office-based lab, or any hospital facility is acceptable.

The statement also provides guidance for operator experience. Those with less than 3 years’ experience, considered to have limited exposure to atherectomy devices and limited ST-segmented elevation MI (STEMI)/shock experience, should avoid doing PCIs in an ASC and performing atherectomy cases on their own, and have a colleague review case selection and assist in higher-risk cases. Experienced (3-10 years’ experience) and very experienced (more than 10 years’) should be able to perform in any setting and be competent with, if not highly experienced with, atherectomy and STEMI/shock.

Dr. Grines acknowledged the writing group didn’t want to set a specific operator volume requirement. “However, we recognize that lifetime operator experience is particularly important in more complex cases such as CTO, atherectomy, bifurcation stenoses, etc.,” she said. “In addition, performing these cases at a larger institution that has other operators that may assist in the event of a complication is very important. Specifically, we did not believe that recent fellow graduates with less than 3 years in practice or low-volume operators should attempt higher-risk cases in a no-SOS [surgeon-on-site] setting or perform cases in ASC or office-based labs where no colleagues are there to assist in case of a complication.”

In an interview, Gregory J. Dehmer, MD, professor of medicine at Virginia Tech University, Roanoke, reprised the theme of his accompanying editorial. “Things are evolving again, as Bob Dylan would say, ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’, so it’s very timely that the society in collaboration with other professional societies updated what are guidelines and rules of road if you’re going to do PCI in ASCs or office based laboratories,” said Dr. Dehmer, who chaired the writing committees of the 2007 and 2014 SCAI expert statements on PCI.

Having this statement is important for centers that don’t have on-site surgical backup, he said. “You couldn’t sustain a PCI operation at a rural hospital on just acute MIs alone. The key thing is that all of this built upon numerous studies both in the U.S. and abroad that showed the safety of doing elective cases — not only STEMIs, but elective PCI — at facilities without on-site surgery.”

CMS pushed the envelope when it decided to reimburse PCIs done in ASCs, Dr. Dehmer said. “That was not based on a lot of data. It was kind of a leap of faith. It’s logical that this should work, but in order for it to work and be safe for pats you have to follow the rules. That’s where SCAI stepped in at this point and said this is a whole new environment and we need to set some ground rules for physicians of who and who should not be having these procures in an office-based lab or an ambulatory surgery center.”

Dr. Grines and Dr. Dehmer have no relevant disclosures.

This article originally appeared on MDedge.com, part of the Medscape Professional Network.

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