Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a common procedure to treat coronary artery stenoses. Several studies had demonstrated that PCI does not reduce the risk of death or myocardial infarction when performed to patients with stable angina. However it has been observed that most patients believe that PCI will reduce their risk for death and myocardial infarction. On the other hand, cardiologists generally acknowledge the limitation of PCI according to the current literature.
Cardiologists’ decision to refer a patient to PCI is based on factors other then perceived benefits such as fear of missing a needed procedure, defensive medicine, desire of demonstrating their professional competence, vested professional and economic interests, accomplish patient expectation, the so called oculo-stenotic reflex, when a lesion is dilated regardless the clinical indication.

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