When people have a blockage in their arteries, they tend to favor the idea of a surgeons performing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) over a full-blown surgery – or Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG).
Percutaneous means that surgeons are going through the skin, typically with a tube from the groin area. Surgeons guide that instrument up to the heart, and then open up the blockage.
CABG is open heart surgery. It involves rerouting blood flow around a blockage in the coronary artery, allowing the heart muscle to maintain a good blood supply.
PCI vs. CABG
PCI and CABG should not be thought of exclusively in terms of treatment. They should not be considered as two options with either one or the other to be used for arterial blockages. Rather, they are complementary techniques. Of course, no one wants to have open heart surgery, and when you can avoid it, you should. But for some cases, surgery is simply necessary for the best outcome.
For someone with limited coronary disease, PCI is a good option. But for someone with disease that affects multiple vessels, the prognosis is better when CABG is performed. This lessens the risk of death and heart attack without any increased risk for stroke.
Cardiologists and heart surgeons collaborate
You want to obtain opinions by a cardiologist and heart surgeon and formulate the best plan that is specific to you.
For example, at Cleveland Clinic surgeons work together to find the best treatment for each patient. So if a patient comes in to see a cardiologist or sends records in to determine if they are a surgical candidate , the information is reviewed by the cardiologist and the heart surgeon.
Together, they find the best treatment course for the patient. This may be PCI, surgery or medical therapy. They consider all the options to find the best options for the patient.
