Percutaneous coronary intervention of bifurcation coronary disease

Bifurcation coronary artery disease is a frequent problem faced by interventional cardiologists and it affects approximately 15-20% of patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The application of drug-eluting stents (DES) technology to prevent restenosis after PCI represents one of the success stories in cardiology, but DES have not resolved the bifurcation PCI challenge. Bifurcation PCI remains associated with higher procedural failure and worse outcomes compared with PCI of non-bifurcated lesions even in DES era. A dependable strategy for PCI of bifurcation lesions has yet to be established, which is likely due to the paucity of studies evaluating the anatomical intricacies of the bifurcation as well as the lack of large scale randomized therapeutic trials. Further, bifurcation has many anatomical variants and it is unlike that one technique will fit all. Currently, we are left with the option of a tailor-made strategy for each patient and bifurcation anatomy and make the most of the limited evidence available to support our therapeutic decisions. In this review, we attempted to describe the current understanding of bifurcation anatomy and corresponding PCI strategies.