Excerpt

Our current paradigm for treating coronary artery disease (CAD) focuses on improving symptom status and correctly risk stratifying patients. Patients with severe symptoms, especially those with symptoms refractory to medical therapy, are candidates for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) to enhance quality of life. This issue generally does not apply to patients who are asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms (acknowledging that some patients who are mildly symptomatic will become asymptomatic following successful PCI or CABG). In these patients, the major issue to address is accurate risk stratification. The identification of any CAD can determine the intensity of treatment of risk factors, and the identification of severe (left main or 3-vessel) CAD can lead to consideration of CABG for improving survival. …