Interventional techniques for the management of coronary artery lesions: an update.

Coronary balloon angioplasty has become standard treatment for ischemic coronary artery disease. Major limitations of angioplasty are the inferior results obtained with unfavorable lesions, the occurrence of abrupt occlusion responsible for in-hospital mortality and morbidity, and the high restenosis rate at 6 months. New techniques for stents, laser, and atherectomy have been developed to overcome these limitations. Until now, although the initial results are encouraging, these new techniques have not as yet shown to be clearly superior to balloon angioplasty. However, due to the limitations of balloon angioplasty, further development of new techniques should be stimulated so that nonsurgical treatment of coronary artery disease will become safer, more effective, and applicable to a wider spectrum of coronary artery disease.