PCI versus CABG in patients with complex coronary artery disease: Time for reconciliation?

Final 5-year results of the Synergy between PCI with Taxus and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX) trial were recently presented at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) and European Society of Thoracic Surgery (ESTS) meetings. SYNTAX is frequently quoted as “the most important percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) vs. coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) trial in multivessel and/or left main (LM) coronary artery disease (CAD) conducted to date”. However, the impact of its findings on day-to-day clinical practice remains surprisingly humble.