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special th, .special td { vertical-align: text-top; } ABSTRACT For many years, left main coronary artery disease has remained as the last frontier resisting percutaneous coronary intervention. Until recently, the most relevant clinical studies in this regard as well as clinical practice guidelines favored surgical revascularization almost as the only treatment pathway for the management of this condition. The changes that have occurred over the last 10 to 15 years since the appearance of drug-eluting stents and their technological advances have been extraordinary. This, added to the publication of randomized clinical trials that compared both revascularization modalities, has placed percutaneous coronary interventions at a similar level to surgery in a large number of patients. The anatomical, technical, and strategic aspects are essential for the percutaneous management of left main coronary artery lesions given their tremendous clinical variability. In this article we will be reviewing their anatomy, angiography, intracoronary diagnostic techniques, and different percutaneous revascularization strategies. As long as future clinical studies do not definitively favor percutaneous over surgical revascularization or vice versa, individual discussions on each particular case by the heart team and our patients’ preferences should guide our clinical decision-making process. |
