Barbara Anna Danek

The retrograde approach is important for achieving high success rates in chronic total occlusion percutaneous coronary intervention. Operators must be aware of complications that can occur during retrograde CTO PCI; they must continually try to prevent them and be ready to treat them, if they occur. Systematic, prospective study of complications in CTO PCI is needed for the development of additional preventive and treatment strategies.

Background: The Flash Ostial system (Ostial Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA) was designed to optimize implantation of aorto‐ostial coronary stents by flaring the proximal stent struts against the aortic wall.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical record, angiograms, and intravascular ultrasound images of 22 aorto‐ostial percutaneous coronary interventions performed at our institution between March and September 2015. The Flash Ostial system was used in 13 cases (59%).Results: Mean age was 67 ± 8 years and all patients were men. The target vessel was the right coronary artery (59%), left main (27%), or a saphenous vein graft (14%); 59% of the lesions had moderate/severe calcification. The mean number of predilation balloons was 1.8 ± 1.6, mean Flash ostial balloon diameter was 3.3 ± 0.5 mm and mean inflation pressure was 13.1 ± 4.0 atmospheres. Intravascular ultrasonography (available for 19 patients) revealed mean ostial minimum lumen cross‐sectional area (MLA) of 9.2 ± 3.0 mm² and reference MLA of 8.5 ± 2.7 mm². The percent difference between ostial and reference MLA was higher in cases in which the Flash Ostial system was used versus those where it was not (9.6 ± 5.5% vs. 4.0 ± 2.8%, P = 0.03). All stent struts were well apposed. Technical success was 100%. One patient developed a left groin pseudoaneurysm treated with thrombin injection and one patient had a periprocedural myocardial infarction. Median contrast, fluoroscopy time, and procedure time were 235 mL, 33 min, and 118 min, respectively.Conclusions: The Flash Ostial system can be successfully used in aorto‐ostial stenting, resulting in large ostial vessel MLA.

Background—: We sought to examine the efficacy and safety of chronic total occlusion percutaneous coronary intervention using the retrograde approach. Methods and Results—: We compared the outcomes of the retrograde versus antegrade-only approach to chronic total occlusion percutaneous coronary intervention among 1301 procedures performed at 11 experienced US centers between 2012 and 2015. The mean age was 65.5±10 years, and 84% of the patients were men with a high prevalence of diabetes mellitus (45%) and previous coronary artery bypass graft surgery (34%). Overall technical and procedural success rates were 90% and 89%, respectively, and in-hospital major adverse cardiovascular events occurred in 31 patients (2.4%). The retrograde approach was used in 539 cases (41%), either as the initial strategy (46%) or after a failed antegrade attempt (54%). When compared with antegrade-only cases, retrograde cases were significantly more complex, both clinically (previous coronary artery bypass graft surgery prevalence, 48% versus 24%; P P P P <0.001) rates. On multivariable analysis, the presence of suitable collaterals, no smoking, no previous coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and left anterior descending artery target vessel were independently associated with technical success using the retrograde approach. Conclusions—: The retrograde approach is commonly used in contemporary chronic total occlusion percutaneous coronary intervention, especially among more challenging lesions and patients. Although associated with lower success and higher major adverse cardiovascular event rates in comparison to antegrade-only crossing, retrograde percutaneous coronary intervention remains critical for achieving overall high success rates.

The use of saphenous vein grafts (SVGs) for retrograde native-vessel chronic total occlusion (CTO) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has received limited study. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records and coronary angiograms of retrograde CTO-PCI performed through an SVG at four United States institutions between 2012 and 2013. During the study period, retrograde CTO-PCI was performed in 144 of 572 cases (25.2%) and retrograde CTO-PCI via SVG in 21 patients (14.6% of all retrograde cases). Mean age was 71 ± 7 years and 95.2% of the patients were men. The CTO target vessel was the right coronary (38%), circumflex (38%), and left anterior descending (24%) artery. Mean J-CTO score was 3.5 ± 1.0. The most common reentry technique was reverse controlled antegrade dissection and reentry. Technical and procedural success rates were 86% and 81%, respectively, with retrograde SVG-PCI attempts being successful in 67%. A major adverse cardiac event occurred in 2 patients (1 periprocedural myocardial infarction and 1 tamponade resulting in death). Median contrast volume, fluoroscopy time, and procedure time were 250 mL, 91.6 minutes, and 214 minutes, respectively. Two SVGs were coiled due to competitive flow after CTO recanalization. Retrograde native-vessel CTO-PCI via SVG represents a small proportion of retrograde CTO-PCIs and was associated with high technical success rates, but may carry increased risk for complications.