Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty — A Status Report

Abstract

Two years ago, Grüntzig and his colleagues¹ reported their initial experience with percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) in 50 patients. In that same issue, the Journal published an editorial that summarized a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) conference convened to review preliminary information on 205 cases of PTCA and to discuss methods whereby physicians treating patients with cardiovascular disease could assist in the development and evaluation of the technique.² The participants at that conference agreed that candidates for this new investigational procedure should have unacceptable angina inadequately controlled by maximal medical therapy; that they should have proximal, accessible, . . .