[Heart surgery and interventional cardiology for adults; Health Council recommendations].

In the scientifically solidly based report 'Heart surgery and intervention cardiology for adults' the Dutch Health Council presents its advice relating to the expected developments in the area of invasive treatment of coronary diseases, mainly coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). The Council advocates combined cardiological-surgical discussions about indications for CABG and PTCA and central registration of data. Minimum requirements to guarantee quality of a treatment centre are the presence of 5 heart surgeons and 5 intervention cardiologists each performing 150 and 100 interventions a year, respectively. It is, according to the Council, not possible to determine the maximum size of a treatment centre scientifically. Concerning the waiting lists, the Council recommends a maximal waiting time of 2-3 months. It is interesting to follow the developments as on the one hand the Government wants to deregulate, whereas on the other it advocates a centralized approach.