Overtreatment

Abstract

Over the years, dissociation between the widespread use of procedures and the lack of evidence (evidence-practice dissociation) has been observed in many circumstances in cardiology. Thirty-three years ago Mc Kinley described in 7 stages the <em>career</em> of a new procedure: from the enthusiastic presentation of pilot research up to oblivion. The <em>Choosing</em> <em>Wisely</em> project in the United States and the<em> Doing more does not mean doing better</em> project in Italy are intended to identify very commonly prescribed procedures at high risk of inappropriateness that do not bring significant benefits to many patients. Finally, the implementation of local experience of identifying inappropriate procedure in an Italian hospital is described.