Historical background of left main stem revascularization: A step further

Thirty five years ago, CABG was challenged by PCI, for the first time... For more than 35 years, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has attempted to conquer the "realm of the surgeon", and lessons have to be learned from this adventurous endeavor and therapeutic competition with our surgical colleagues. The first successful human coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedure was performed by Goetz on May 2, 1960, whereas the first percutaneous balloon angioplasty was performed by Andreas Gruntzig on September 16, 1977 under the surgical supervision of Marco Turina, who provided Gruntzig with one of his healthiest patients, the 38-year-old Dolf Bachmann, who despite his heavy smoking and unstable presentation had a perfect "simple, single" proximal left anterior descending lesion (Gruntzig, Lancet 1:263, 1978).