[Editorial] 40 years of percutaneous coronary intervention: where next? (Lancet)

When cardiologists gather in Barcelona, Spain, from Aug 26-31 for the annual European Society of Cardiology meeting, they will celebrate Andreas Grüntzig in a special tribute session. Grüntzig performed the first percutaneous coronary angioplasty on Sept 16, 1977, at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, on a 38-year-old patient with a high-grade discrete stenosis of the proximal left anterior descending coronary artery. He reported the first five patients in The Lancet in 1978. To mark this breakthrough and the birth of interventional cardiology, this year`s conference spotlight is on 40 years of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI).