Evaluation of stents and grafts.

In the management of patients with obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with stent implantation is routinely performed. In patients with left main or three-vessel disease, however, coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) may be the preferred therapeutic strategy. Importantly, both after PCI or CABG a small but non-negligible risk of restenosis remains. Early detection and treatment of in-stent restenosis or graft disease is of great clinical importance. Accordingly, accurate non-invasive methods to identify patients who would benefit from subsequent invasive coronary angiography (ICA) would be highly beneficial. Besides ICA, several non-invasive cardiac imaging techniques may be used to assess patients after revascularisation. In the present article, an overview of various anatomic and functional imaging techniques available to assess patients after revascularisation is provided.