The CCT has, since its inception, continued to expand and to make a significant contribution to the expansion of clinical indications and therapeutic strategies for ischemic heart disease and for peripheral vascular disease.

In the history of treatment strategies for ischemic heart disease, the arrival of DES has had perhaps the single greatest impact on the clinical practice of PCI.
One obvious impact has been the extension of the indication of PCI to left-main disease, small-vessel disease, triple-vessel disease, even in diabetic patients.
Many of these patients, who before the advent of DES went straight to bypass surgery, can now be effectively treated by PCI. The introduction of DES has also had the result of standardizing PCI strategy in the global context.

There remain, however, a number of unresolved questions even in this era of standardized PCI strategy. These include PCI for chronic total occlusions and strategies for bifurcations and vulnerable plaques. In this context, the CCT will continue to seek innovative answers to these unresolved challenges.

Falling in the middle of the first decade of the 21st Century, the focus of CCT2005 springs from Asia to the wider world. CCT2005 will be characterized by several new features: Firstly, the official language of the meeting will from now on be English.
Second, a CCT-Electrophysiology course will be formally included for the first time. Thirdly, the CCTPeripheral and CCT-Surgical courses will be expanded. Lastly, this year's CCT-Coronary course is inviting live-case broadcasts from key institutions in Asia. We believe these major improvements in the CCT program will enable participants from all over the world to communicate and learn more successfully with and from each other. We also believe that the sharing experience and ideas with experts from the other disciplines is the best way to expand the limits of knowledge.