ABSTRACT
The pantheon of coronary revascularization will include milestones such as coronary angiography,1 coronary revascularization,2 coronary artery bypass grafting,3,4 balloon angioplasty,5 coronary stents,6-9 adjunctive therapies (high pressure inflation and antiplatelet therapy),10 and drug-eluting stents.11-14 It is difficult to argue which of these events was the most important as none of them are singular events but culminations of many smaller pieces of a puzzle which is finally put together. It has been said that innovators stand on the shoulders of those who went before, and that is certainly true in the field of coronary revascularization. The purpose of this book is to collate, in a single volume, the current body of knowledge regarding the clinical experience with drug-eluting stents.
