Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty: six years' experience.

It can be foreseen that with properly selected cases, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty will have the same primary and long-term results as bypass surgery in this subset of patients. The socioeconomic and psychologic advantages of the procedure, compared to the advantages of heart surgery, are obvious. The classic indication for the procedure is single-vessel disease. At the present level of experience and case selection, approximately 10% of the surgical candidates could undergo dilatation. If patients with discrete proximal stenosis in double-vessel disease are included, the number will be slightly higher. Future developments in technique, as well as an increase in experience, will broaden the spectrum of this promising treatment.