Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass vs Percutaneous Coronary Intervention - Therapeutic Strategies for 3-Vessel Coronary Artery Disease. OPCAB vs PCI (OPCAB-Side)

Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is still the best therapy for patients with multivessel and left main coronary artery disease. Recently, the introduction of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents (DES) in these patients has improved the restenosis rate compared with bare metal stents. Furthermore, according to the results of the SYNTAX trial, no differences were found in the frequencies of mortality or myocardial infarction between CABG and PCI patients. PCI with DES is being increasingly performed for the treatment of patients with either left main trunk, diffuse, or multivessel lesions. In Japan, to avoid any side effects from cardiopulmonary bypass, off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) was performed in 66% of the total isolated CABG procedures in 2009, and is markedly different from the procedures performed in North America and Europe. However, the comparative effectiveness of PCI and OPCAB remains uncertain. In the present study, the current evidence from randomized trials, a meta-analysis and several observation studies are reviewed. (Circ J 2010, 74 2750-2757)