Hybrid coronary revascularization: promising, but yet to take off.

Hybrid coronary revascularization (HCR) combines arterial coronary artery bypass surgery (most commonly minimally invasive) and percutaneous coronary intervention in the treatment of a particular subset of multivessel coronary artery disease. It was first introduced in the mid-1990s, and aspired to bring together the "best of both worlds": the excellent patency rates and survival benefits associated with the durable left internal mammary artery graft to the left anterior descending artery alongside the good patency rates of drug-eluting stents, which outlive saphenous vein grafts to non-left anterior descending vessels. Although in theory this is a very attractive revascularization strategy, several years later, only one small randomized controlled trial comparing HCR with coronary artery bypass grafting has recently emerged in the medical literature, raising concerns regarding HCR's role and generalizability. In the current review, we discuss HCR's rationale, the current evidence behind it, its limitations and procedural challenges.