The decision-making process in the management of patients with ischaemic heart disease has historically been the responsibility of the cardiologist and encompasses medical management, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG). Currently, there is significant geographical variability in the PCI:CABG ratio. There are now emerging recommendations that this decision-making process should be carried out through a multidisciplinary approach, namely the Heart Team. This work was carried out on behalf of The British Cardiovascular Society (BCS), Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain and Ireland (SCTS) and British Cardiovascular Intervention Society (BCIS). This manuscript sets out the principles for the functioning of the Heart Team. This work has been approved by the Executive Committees of BCS/BCIS/SCTS.
Keywords: Guidelines; Heart-team meeting; Ischaemic heart disease.
© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.