Treatment of a totally occluded superior mesenteric artery facilitated by retrograde crossing via collaterals from the celiac artery.

PURPOSE To present a new approach route for recanalization of a chronically occluded superior mesenteric artery (SMA). TECHNIQUE Percutaneous treatment of an SMA occlusion can be accomplished in some cases via retrograde crossing through collaterals from the celiac artery. From a right common femoral artery (CFA) approach, an 8-F RDC guide catheter is advanced to the origin of the celiac artery via. Using a 5-F angled Glidecath, a long 0.035-inch stiff Glidewire, and a Choice PT wire, the glide catheter is advanced via the celiac artery into the superior pancreaticoduodenal artery. Using the angled Glidewire and the Choice PT wire, the occluded SMA is cannulated in a retrograde fashion. Through an 8-F sheath in the left CFA, an 8-F RDC guide catheter is advanced into the abdominal aorta. A goose neck snare is used to capture the Choice wire, which is withdrawn through the left catheter and sheath. The SMA occlusion is dilated, and the RDC guide is advanced into the SMA origin over the balloon. Another Choice PT wire and a 0.035-inch Wholey High Torque wire are placed in an antegrade fashion through the now open SMA. Angioplasty and stenting are then completed in the SMA over the Wholey wire. CONCLUSION Retrograde recanalization of the SMA via celiac collaterals offers a new endovascular approach to treating patients with chronic mesenteric ischemia and a chronically occluded SMA.