ABSTRACT
Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was first achieved by Andreas Gruntzig in 1977 and has subsequently become one of the most frequent therapeutic interventions performed within medicine. When considering single-vessel coronary disease, it may be considered that such intervention is low risk for the individual, with generally short procedure times and excellent clinical outcomes. Hence, in general, single-vessel disease does not require a multi-disciplinary discussion. A recent addition to revascularisation guidelines has been the need for such a multi-disciplinary assessment by the 'Heart Team'. To aid in the discussion with the Heart Team, a number of anatomically based scoring systems have been developed in order to allow a risk stratification for PCI. The benefits of PCI over medical therapy have been demonstrated in a number of trials in those with single-vessel disease with regards to symptom control. Since the introduction of PCI, rapid advances have led to changing indications from simple single-vessel disease to more complex anatomy and multi-vessel disease (MVD).
