Stable Coronary Artery Disease: PCI Versus Medical Therapy

Does elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) make sense for patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD), or are some better off with optimal medical therapy? The answer may depend on our ability to document ischemia in these patients, but it also leads us to another question: are we doing enough, through stress testing or other means, to substantiate the need for PCI? Dr. Rita Redberg, professor of clinical medicine in the division of cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, talks with Dr. Janet Wright about the work-up and evaluation of patients with stable CAD.