The European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions and the European Bifurcation Club published a clinical consensus statement on intravascular ultrasound and optical coherence tomography in left main bifurcation PCI. It appraises recent evidence and gives practical guidance on planning, guidance and optimisation.
The statement notes that American and European guidelines now endorse imaging guidance for left main bifurcation PCI in acute and chronic coronary syndrome. It is a consensus statement from a global expert panel, so there are no new trial results or effect sizes.
For operators, it is a prompt to build imaging into every left main procedure rather than reserving it for difficult cases. For centres in India with limited access to imaging catheters, cost and availability remain separate questions the statement does not resolve.
- Imaging guidance is endorsed in current guidelines for left main bifurcation PCI.
- Intravascular ultrasound or optical coherence tomography can be used for planning, guidance and optimisation.
- Plan stent size and landing zones from imaging before deployment.
- Check stent expansion and apposition with imaging after optimisation.
- Check local access and cost before changing a protocol.
Why it matters
It turns a guideline endorsement into step-by-step practice for the most complex PCI lesion subset.
Don't overread it
This is expert consensus and does not itself change a guideline.
The statistics, in plain English
A consensus statement reports expert agreement on how to apply evidence, so it carries no hazard ratios of its own. It ranks below a randomised trial but above a single operator's habit.
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