Assessing the Severity of Coronary-Artery Stenoses

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Abstract
Over two centuries ago, Heberden described a strangling type of chest pain that was later associated with stenotic lesions of the coronary arteries. With the development of coronary arteriography in 1959, it became possible to visualize coronary arterial stenoses in vivo, and these compelling pictures became the gold standard for assessing coronary artery disease. Over the past 20 years, however, we have come to understand better the relation between angiographic pictures of coronary-artery stenoses and blood flow to the heart. These recent studies suggest that the angiogram, though hardly fool's gold, is not as precious as was once believed.In . . .