Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty: an update on indications, techniques, and results.

Despite continued efforts at disease prevention, coronary artery disease remains accountable for more than 500,000 deaths per year in the United States. Surgical intervention has assumed a well-deserved role over the past 16 years in disease palliation and receives wide application. More recently, PTCA has emerged as a proven technique for coronary revascularization that can be applied to a large group of patients with coronary artery disease. Clearly complementing bypass surgery, percutaneous dilatation offers certain advantages such as reduced emotional pain and suffering, sizable economic savings, and reduced time lost from work. As diagnostic technology continues to improve, the goal of early disease recognition and gentle nonsurgical resolution may well be accomplished in many individuals suffering from coronary artery disease.