The need for standards for audit of coronary surgery and angioplasty.

The purpose of auditing is to improve clinical practice, but there is little point in auditing the management of a single patient or a series of patients unless the correct management has been established. Auditing should involve comparing case management with a standard and should not be based on individual opinion. This review considers how standards for auditing of coronary artery surgery and angiography can be defined, and it describes recent publications of different types that potential auditors should consider before beginning their task. These publications include series of patients, registers, committee statements, and ratings of "appropriateness."