The BARI Protocol Protocol for the Bypass Angioplasty

In this supplement we present the design of the Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation (BARI). The BARI team of investigators, data coordinators, staff, and support committees are committed to providing the highest quality data to scientifically test the proposed hypotheses. Considerable controversy exists about the extension of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) into the arena of therapy for multivessel coronary artery disease. Although coronary artery bypass surgery has been thoroughly compared with medical therapy in randomized trials, studies of PTCA to date have been observational in nature. The presumption that the results of trials of coronary bypass surgery can be applied to the use of PTCA is not established; this creates a dilemma that requires resolution in the most objective and scientific manner. In the Wangensteens's book (-The Rise of Surgery, 1978), there