Angioplasty in the Modern Era: Clinical Triage and Risk Mitigation for Healthcare Professionals

At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Determine when angioplasty (PCI), bypass surgery (CABG), or medication alone is the better choice, using the patient’s presentation, anatomy, physiologic testing, and Heart Team input.

2. Compare drug-eluting stents and drug-coated balloons across lesion types and evaluate when intravascular imaging (IVUS or OCT) should guide device choice.

3. Develop an individualized antiplatelet and kidney-protection plan based on the patient’s bleeding, ischemic, and renal risk.

This course walks through how clinicians approach percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) decision-making today, with an emphasis on selecting the right patients, lesions, devices, and medications for the right reasons. The course reviews how the SYNTAX score helps grade anatomic complexity, how physiologic measures like fractional flow reserve (FFR) and instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) can refine the call to revascularize, and what the current evidence says about drug-eluting stents versus drug-coated balloons. The course also covers when intravascular imaging (IVUS or OCT) earns its place, how to think about bleeding and kidney risk after the procedure, and where shorter antiplatelet regimens fit for high-bleeding-risk patients. Throughout, the focus stays on Heart Team decision-making and individualized care, not one-size-fits-all rules.

Statement of Need / Practice Gap

Device technology and antithrombotic strategy have moved fast, and everyday practice can lag behind current evidence. This activity targets the gaps that show up in daily decision-making, including when to lean on physiologic testing to pick lesions, when to reach for a drug-coated balloon instead of a stent, how short an antiplatelet course can safely be, and how to manage higher-risk groups like patients on dialysis.