The management of patients with stable angina and multivessel disease. PTCA or coronary bypass surgery?

In the 1970s and early 1980s, randomized trials comparing coronary bypass surgery with medical therapy emphasized the indications for coronary revascularization. In these trials and database studies, the major benefit of surgery over medical therapy upon survival was among 'sicker' patients, characterized by the severity of ischaemia, the extent of coronary disease and the presence of left ventricular dysfunction''. In the late 1980s and 1990s, the focus shifted towards the preferred method of revascularization; coronary bypass surgery (CABG) or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA)''.