Circulation Journal Official Journal of the Japanese Circulation Society http://www. j-circ.or.jp oronary artery bifurcation stenosis and some other coronary lesions, such as unprotected left main stem stenosis, multivessel disease and chronic total occlusion, are among the challenging lesions for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). 1-5 A proper analysis and classification of both the lesion's localization at the coronary bifurcation site and the side branch (SB) angulation are crucial in individualizing the PCI technique for the treatment of coronary bifurcation stenosis. Several coronary artery bifurcation lesion (CABL) classification systems have been described in the literature. 1,2,6-13 All of them are praiseworthy attempts to simplify a hard topic in interventional cardiology, but nevertheless, they have certain limitations and shortcomings. Not only do the terms used for lesion types not give information about the extent of the lesion's distribution and its localization at site of the bifurcation, they are also difficult to memorize and communicate. Some of the classifications do not cover all categories of bifurcation lesion. Currently, the most commonly applied classification of bifurcation lesions is that proposed by Medina et al, which uses a binary number system for each branch of the bifurcation, but does not consider the bifurcation angle. 11 Herein, we propose the Descriptive, INtelligible and Ordered (DINO), a new verbally anchored, self-descriptive classification system that gives information about the SB angulation relative to the main branch (MB) and about the extent of lesion distribution and its localization.
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Methods and Results
The DINO Classification of CABLsDefinitions The coronary artery bifurcation has 3 segments ( Figure 1): 2 from the MB (the proximal MB (PMB) and the distal MB (DMB)) and the 3rd segment is the SB. These 3 branches of the bifurcation form 3 forks: (1) the MB fork formed by the PMB and the DMB; (2) the proximal fork formed by the PMB and the SB; and (3) the distal fork formed by the DMB and the SB. The most important regions of a coronary bifurcation in the setting of coronary angioplasty are the ostial regions (the ostium and the adjacent few Background: Several classification systems for coronary artery bifurcation lesions (CABL) have been described in the literature, but despite the commendable effort to simplify a difficult subject in interventional cardiology, all of them have certain limitations and shortcomings.