The need for revascularization procedures will decrease dramatically in the next decade.

: Coronary revascularization, first with coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery and later using percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), has been available as a treatment procedure for patients with anginal syndromes for over three decades. During this time, the number of procedures performed has risen exponentially. The most recent development has been the growing trend away from CABG towards PTCA. Despite these facts, it is argued that the need for coronary revascularization will decrease over the next decade and the reasons that underlie this provocative prediction are discussed. Scientific (both pathophysiological and epidemiological) and historical precedent with other surgical procedures that have disappeared completely from medical practice are used to substantiate this argument.