Guidelines for management of patients after elective PCIs, including types of procedures, complications, and patients’ education and outcomes.

Percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) have changed dramatically since the 1990s. The devices used have expanded from balloon dilation catheters to cutters, shavers, lasers, and specialized stents. Newer hemostasis devices have supplemented or replaced traditional methods. Routine treatment with heparin and warfarin postoperatively has been replaced with newer antithrombin and antiplatelet therapies.

In this article, I provide updated guidelines for management of patients after elective PCIs. I review the coronary vasculature; discuss different types of PCI procedures, including management of patients and complications; and present key topics of patients’ education and outcomes.

Figure 1 shows the left and right coronary artery systems.1 The left main coronary artery bifurcates into the left anterior descending artery and the left circumflex artery.2,3 In some persons, the left main coronary artery may not...

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