Introduction

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) are the 2 major methods of revascularization for coronary artery disease (CAD). Although indications for both revascularization methods have considerable overlap, there are also groups of patients who derive substantial benefit from one procedure or the other. The goals of this chapter are to 1) review the indications for revascularization via PCI as compared with CABG; 2) provide the reader with an overview of the PCI procedure and relevant pre-, intra-, and postprocedural considerations; 3) discuss the relative benefits of PCI compared with CABG, with an emphasis on specific patient subgroups that favor one or the other, and 4) consider the evidence for a hybrid revascularization strategy.