The American College of Cardiology is changing its guidelines for when implanting coronary stents is appropriate -- by banishing the term "inappropriate." Next year, the main U.S. heart-doctor group will remove the word it has used since 2009 to describe cases where people don't need the metal-mesh tubes in their blood vessels. The label has become a liability in treatment disputes with insurers and regulators, said Robert Hendel, who led the effort that updated the wording. "The term 'inappropriate' caused such a visceral response," said Hendel, a cardiologist at the University of Miami. "A lot of regulators and payers were saying, 'If it's inappropriate, why should we pay for it, and why should it be done at all?'"
