Chronic total occlusions: A European global perspective

Treatment of chronic total occlusion (CTO) lesions still represents the last frontier for the interventionalist. Although the most important cause of procedural failure is the inability to cross the occlusion with the guide wire and to reach the distal true lumen end, other factors may prevent balloon crossing and final recanalisation. Moreover, the recurrence rate of restenosis and reocclusion is higher compared with other subsets of lesions. Data obtained over the past decade have shown that successful recanalisabon of CTO provides long-term outcome improvement, left ventricular ejection fraction improvement, electrical stability of myocardium and improved tolerance for future coronary ev…