Methods: Seventyeight primary angioplasty procedures; performed in our center from January 2001 till February 2003 were analyzed retrospectively. Clinical and demographic characteristics of the patients, procedural success, early and late outcomes of the patients were taken into account. The safety of angioplasty was assessed by the analysis of in-hospital complications (death, urgent need for repeated revascularization, AMI with or without ST elevation and stroke). The angioplasty procedures were considered effective when the post-procedural residual stenosis did not exceed 50% with the distal Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) grade III flow.

Results: Device success rate was 92.3%. Angiographic success rate was 88,8%. In hospital mortality rate was 4.1%. These patients were admitted with cardiogenic shock, one of them was lost during the procedure and the other two died during hospital follow-up. One patient died suddenly and another developed acute MI during the 6-month follow-up period. No patients developed stroke or referred for urgent surgery. 4 patients (5.5%) underwent repeated angioplasty during follow-up.

Conclusions: Primary angioplasty can be safely performed in centers without on-site surgery. The efficacy and safety requirements of angioplasty, performed in a center without on-site surgical back-up facility using a mobile angiograph were similar with the data obtained from the literature.