Chronic Total Occlusion – Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (CTO-PCI) Experience in a Single, Multi-operator Australian Centre: Need for dedicated CTO-PCI programs

Background Chronic total occlusions (CTOs) represent a unique set of lesions for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) because of the complexity of techniques required to treat them. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the CTO-PCI experience between January 2010 and December 2012, in a multi-operator single centre, which is one of the largest volume PCI centres in Australia. Results Eighty-two patients (62.6±11.3 years, 85% males) who had CTO-PCIs were included. The most common site of CTO was the right coronary artery (44%), followed by the left circumflex (30%) and left anterior descending (26%) arteries. Using the Japanese CTO scoring system, 34% of lesions were classified as easy, 37% intermediate, 23% difficult and 6% very difficult. All PCIs were performed by antegrade approach. Selected procedural characteristics included: re-attempt procedure 10%; multiple access sites 21%; more than one guidewire 77%; additional support modality 60%; drug-eluting stents 97%; stent number 1.6±0.8; total stent length 40.1±24.5 mm; fluoroscopy time 33±17 min; contrast volume 257.2±110.8 mL. Overall CTO success rate was 60%. In-hospital adverse outcomes included 1.2% mortality, 9.8% peri-procedural myocardial infarction, 4.9% emergency bypass surgery, 3% cardiac tamponade and 4.9% contrast induced nephropathy. Conclusion We report modest success rates in a single Australian centre experience in a relatively conservative cohort of CTO-PCI prior to the initiation of a dedicated CTO revascularisation program.