ABSTRACT
The evolution of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has resulted from many significant advances in operator technical skill, available equipment and increasing clinical applicability. The first human PCI was performed as a balloon only procedure to dilate a single coronary artery stenosis in 1977. In the United Kingdom, the number and proportion of centres performing PCI without on-site surgery has increased year-on-year. Indeed, it is now the case that non-surgical PCI centres represent the majority with 69 non-surgical PCI centres and 48 surgical centres. The need for emergency surgery following PCI will always persist but is now very infrequent. Situations during PCI that would have previously necessitated the need for emergent-coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) can now be safely and effectively managed in the PCI catheter lab. Increasingly, all cardiac units are moving towards a predominant radial approach for arterial access for PCI.
