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Interventional cardiology

Treating nonischaemic stable CAD lesions—safe to DEFER?

Coronary revascularization has a prominent role in the management of chronic, stable coronary artery disease, but decision-making guided by angiography alone for identifying haemodynamically relevant lesions can be challenging. The DEFER study now demonstrates favourable 15-year outcomes after deferral of revascularization in angiographically relevant, but functionally nonsignificant, coronary lesions.

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Figure 1: Summary of the findings from three randomized trials to evaluate FFR for decision-making and PCI guidance in patients with chronic, stable CAD.

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Correspondence to Stephan Windecker.

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Competing interests

S.W. declares that he has received institutional research grants from Abbott, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, Edwards, Medtronic, and St. Jude Medical, and that he has received speaker fees from Abbott, Astra Zeneca, Bayer, Biosensors, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, Edwards, and Medtronic. K.C.K. declares no competing interests.

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Koskinas, K., Windecker, S. Treating nonischaemic stable CAD lesions—safe to DEFER?. Nat Rev Cardiol 13, 7–8 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrcardio.2015.173

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