The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) Task Force on Practice Guidelines was formed to gather information and make recommendations about appropriate use of technology for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease. Percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) are an important group of technologies in this regard. Although initially limited to PTCA, and termed percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), PCI now includes other new techniques capable of relieving coronary narrowing. Accordingly, in this document, rotational atherectomy, directional atherectomy, extraction atherectomy, laser angioplasty, implantation of intracoronary stents and other catheter devices for treating coronary atherosclerosis are considered components of PCI. In this context PTCA will be used to refer to those studies using primarily PTCA while PCI will refer to the broader group of percutaneous techniques. These new technologies have impacted the effectiveness and safety profile initially established for PTCA. Moreover, important advances have occurred in the use of adjunctive medical therapies such as glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa receptor blockers. In addition, since publication of the previous Guidelines in 1993, greater experience in the performance of PCI in patients with acute coronary syndromes and in community hospital settings has been gained. In view of these developments, further review and revision of the guidelines is warranted. This document reflects the opinion of the third ACC/AHA committee charged with revising the guidelines for PTCA to include the broader group of technologies now termed PCI
