BACKGROUND: The incidence of CK-MB elevation following successful stenting in native coronary arteries is relatively high. The meaning of elevated cardiac enzymes after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is controversial. In several reports, the patients with elevated cardiac enzymes had higher incidence in cardiac complications compared with patients without any enzyme elevation. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess whether CK-MB elevations after successful PCI affect the clinical outcomes. METHODS: Since July 2002 to January 2004, 342 regular follow-up patients (530 lesions) with successful PCI and serial cardiac enzyme evaluation after PCI were analyzed. Patients were classified into two groups based on the maximum CK-MB observed after the procedure: group 1; normal to 3-fold elevation, group 2; more than 3-fold CK-MB elevation. The clinical characteristics, PCI result and the incidence of cardiac events was evaluated. RESULTS: Mean follow-up duration was 11.8 months. See as a following table. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, cardiac enzyme elevation did not predict adverse cardiac events. But heart failure was aggravated in enzyme elevated patients. This may be resulted from the disturbance of microcirculation.