The ISCHEMIA Trial Revisited: Setting the Record Straight on the Benefits of CABG and the Misinterpretation of a Landmark Trial

The ISCHEMIA trial has caused heated discussion in the cardiovascular field, with its results being used to downgrade coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) recommendations in recent guidelines. The authors of this paper performed a detailed re-analysis of the ISCHEMIA trial and critically examined its findings. Several factors are judged likely to have diluted the potential survival advantage associated with CABG. The authors concluded that the results of ISCHEMIA have been misinterpreted, that they are aligned with previous evidence and should not be used to downgrade recommendations for CABG.