[Aggressive medical therapy for stable coronary disease: with or without percutaneous coronary intervention (COURAGE trial)].
The number of percutaneous coronary interventions is increasing, especially for the management of chronic stable angina. However, for these patients there is no evidence of a benefit compared to medical treatment, at least as regards the reduction of cardiovascular events. COURAGE is the reference study that situates the modern interventional cardiology and drug therapy for the management of stable angina. The results are clear: angioplasty with stent does not improve the prognosis of patients with stable angina and optimized medical treatment remains the best therapy to reduce cardiovascular events. However, high-risk patients were excluded from this trial.
Manigold
Thibaut
T
Institut de cardiologie de Montréal, 5000 Bélanger, Montréal QC HIT 1C8, Canada.
Gosselin
Gilbert
G
D000789:Angina, Unstable / Q000628:therapy; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic