ABSTRACT
Introduction Despite improvements in the management of cardiovascular risk factors, as well as advances in percutaneous and surgical revascularization methods, coronary artery disease (CAD) affects over 13 million people in the United States and is responsible for one in every five deaths (1). In a large number of patients, CAD can be of such a diffuse and severe nature that repeated attempts at catheter-based interventions and surgical bypass may be unsuccessful in restoring normal myocardial blood flow. Up to 20% to 37% of the patients with ischemic heart disease cannot undergo either coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or receive incomplete revascularization with these standard revascularization strategies (2-6). Furthermore, incomplete revascularization has been associated with increased mortality and poorer clinical outcome (7,8).
