Application of appropriate use criteria for percutaneous coronary intervention in Japan

Figure 1 The rates of inappropriate percutaneous coronary intervention in non-acute settings in Japan and in the United States. In Japan, when evaluated under the original criteria developed in 2009 (AUC/2009), 15% of PCIs were categorized as inappropriate, and 30.7% of PCIs were classified as inappropriate under the revised criteria (AUC/2012) (blue bars). By contrast, in the United States, 11.6% of PCIs were deemed to be inappropriate by AUC/2009, and when using the AUC/2012, 26.2% of PCIs were classified as inappropriate (red bars). Additionally, the rates of inappropriate PCI decreased by half from 2009 to 2014, owing to the publication of AUC. PCI: Percutaneous coronary intervention; AUC: Appropriate use criteria.