Is a chronic total occlusion worth rechanneling? This question can often be found in different studies, all of them with clinical endpoints. This study (soon to be published in J Am Coll Cardiol Intv.) analyzes another aspect: costs, not only derived from materials used for a successful procedure, but also from materials and hospital stay…
CTO: in Radial Access with Similar Results to Femoral
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. One of the characteristics of chronic total occlusion (CTO) is the use of two access routes: femoral and radial. The radial approach is safer, but it has not been thoroughly analyzed in this type of PCI. The study looked at 3709 patients undergoing left main percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for…
Clinical Improvement Without Ventricular Function Improvement After CTO
The benefits offered to patients by attempting the rechanneling of a chronic total occlusion are still unclear. Additionally, sometimes the procedural risks are somewhat undetermined. Taking into account these controversies, this work sought to prove whether successful rechanneling of a chronic total occlusion improves ventricular function. This is not a soft endpoint; it has been…
An Effort Worth Your While: Rechanneling vs. Optimal Medical Treatment in Total Occlusions
Successful rechanneling of a chronic total occlusion (currently around 90%) leads to significant improvement in quality of life and symptom frequency in patients with stable chronic angina compared with optimal medical treatment alone. These results are promising and what we ultimately expected, although symptoms, as a primary endpoint in themselves, are in the eye of…
SOLACI-SOCIME 2018 | Justification of PCI for Coronary Chronic Total Occlusion
Read articles on the main presentations of the first day of SOLACI-SOCIME 2018 Congress. See the presentation by Dr. Jaikirshan Khatri, entitled “Justification of PCI for Coronary Chronic Total Occlusion”. We are interested in your opinion. Please, leave your comments, thoughts, questions, etc., below. They will be most welcome.
CTO Revascularization Improves Quality of Life
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. The presence of CTO hovers around 15, 20% in coronary angiographies of patients with chronic stable angina, but only 5% receive percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). One of the obstacles to percutaneous revascularization is the lack of relevant studies justifying it, though we do have different comparative studies that improve symptoms, ventricular…
EuroPCR 2018 | Consistent CTO Study: Rechanneling with Current Techniques and SYNERGY Stents
This observational study included 231 patients from 6 sites who presented chronic total occlusions and underwent rechanneling procedures using currently available techniques, which were successful in 90% of all cases (210 patients). All patients who underwent successful rechanneling received a SYNERGY stent and most of them underwent intravascular ultrasound (90.5%). There was only 1 patient lost to clinical follow-up…
Dyspnea and Chronic Total Occlusion: A Symptom That We Can (Attempt to) Improve
Dyspnea is one of the most challenging symptoms as regards its assessment and treatment in patients with coronary disease, since it may stem from both cardiac and non-cardiac causes. Patients in whom dyspnea is the sole symptom of coronary disease are at a higher risk of not receiving adequate treatment, and their short- and long-term…
6 articles on Total Chronic Occlusions that you can not stop reading
1) Radiation Exposure in Chronic Total Occlusions Even in the hands of experienced operators, rechanneling and angioplasty of a chronic total occlusion (CTO) results in patients and the whole cath lab team receiving high doses of radiation, according to this registry presented at the American Heart Association 2017 Scientific Sessions. Read more 2) Should We Begin to Use IVUS in CTO?…
Should We Begin to Use IVUS in CTO?
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. Currently, chronic total occlusions (CTO) are one of the obstacles that coronary angioplasties must overcome, particularly with the development of drug-eluting stents (DES) and new devices and strategies for these challenging lesions. However, there is little information on the safety, efficacy, and real clinical benefit of implanting stents of over 60 mm (known as full metal jackets, FMJ).…
SOLACI CACI 2017 | Re-entry approach to CTO
Read articles on the main presentations of the third day of SOLACI-CACI 2017 Congress. See the presentation by Dr. Luiz Fernando Ybarra, entitled “Re-entry approach to CTO”. We are interested in your opinion. Please, leave your comments, thoughts, questions, etc., below. They will be most welcome.