Most of percutaneous coronary interventions are performed on stabilized patients. Although these procedures have recently been challenged for this type of patient following the publication of the recent Courage study in 2007 (which in fact has only confirmed previous studies), their efficacy is now well established for lowering the frequency of episodes of angina and increasing the performance under load in stabilized high risk patients. In practice, the evaluation of patients (case by case) is essential to establish their risk (low, intermediate or high) in order to offer the most suitable treatment. The aim of this paper is to overview the indications, limitations and results of coronary angioplasties performed in stabilized patients in France in 2009.
Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.