Professor David Taggart Responds to the EXCEL Authors' Rebuttal of the Criticisms of the EXCEL Trial

In the ongoing debate about the results of the EXCEL trial in which Professor Taggart withdrew his authorship and EACTS withdrew their support for the recommendations regarding PCI versus CABG, we previously posted the response from the EXCEL remaining coauthors : 

https://www.tctmd.com/slide/official-response-excel-leadership

This posting is Professor Taggart's response to this document.

Also see here for EACTS response: 

https://www.eacts.org/changing-evidence-changing-practice/

A full list of all the documents relevant to this discussion provided by the SCTS will also be available on the SCTS website. As more information becomes available, SCTS will endeavour to post it online and communicate with members directly, as appropriate. Please use the following link for items that are included as separate PDFs. Thank you. (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9bq984evzqzkky5/AAAGTLyNYcUCiagA4dYkJ8Npa?dl=0)

1. EXCEL trial (8th December 2016)

   
   https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1610227

2. EXCEL trial 5-year outcomes (28th September 2019)  
   https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1909406
   https://solaci.org/_files/tct-2019/excel-5yearpdf.pdf

3. TCTMD commentary (7th October 2019)

   
   https://www.tctmd.com/news/former-excel-investigator-alleges-trial-manipulation-prompting-vehement-denials

4. BBC news story (9th December 2019)
   https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-50715156

5. EACTS initial response to Newsnight article (9th December 2019)

   
   https://www.eacts.org/eacts-responds-to-bbc-newsnights-investigation-on-the-excel-trial/

6. Cardiovascular news commentary (9th December 2019)

   
   https://cardiovascularnews.com/eacts-issues-response-to-bbc-newsnight-investigation-of-excel-trial/

7. TCTMD commentary (10th December 2019)

   
   https://www.tctmd.com/news/eacts-pulls-out-left-main-guidelines-after-bbc-bombshell-alleging-excel-trial-cover

8. British Cardiovascular Intervention Society (BCIS) statement (11th December 2019)

   
   https://www.bcis.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/The-Excel-controversy-finalab.pdf

9. Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain & Ireland (SCTS) joint statement with BCS & BCIS  (12th December 2019)

10. Official response of EXCEL Leadership (12th December 2019)

    
    https://www.tctmd.com/slide/official-response-excel-leadership

11. Medscape commentary & podcast (13th December 2019)

    
    https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/922528

12. SCTS second statement (18th December 2019)

13. Taggart response to EXCEL rebuttal (19th December 2019)

    
    https://www.tctmd.com/slide/response-david-taggart-md-phd-excel-statement

14. EACTS subsequent statement (19th December 2019)

    
    https://www.eacts.org/changing-evidence-changing-practice/

15. ATTS statement (21st December 2019)

    
    https://www.aats.org/aatsimis/AATSWeb/Association/About/Statement%20ESC-EACTS.aspx