A chronic total occlusion in a non-infarct-related artery is an independent predictor of mortality in non-ST elevation myocardial infarction. There are no mortality data about the impact of a chronic total occlusion in patients with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction according to gender. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of the chronic total occlusion in in men and wo...

The present article presents the case of a 70-year-old male, with a history of acute anterolateral myocardiac infarction (AMI) in 1986 and inferior AMI in 1992. Coronary arteriography was performed in 1995, which showed occlusion of the distal RCA and stenosis in 90% of the proximal LAD, with an ejection fraction (EF) of 29%. Balloon angioplasty was performed in the proximal LAD. The patient wa...

Chronic total coronary occlusions (CTO) are encountered frequently, found in up to 50% of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) referred for elective angiography. Treatment strategy for an individual patient is often changed on the basis of the presence or absence of a CTO (1). Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of CTO remains challenging, with observed success rates that are signif...

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for coronary artery chronic total occlusion (CTO) is an important treatment to be used in conjunction with non-CTO PCI, coronary artery bypass grafting, and optimal medical therapy to achieve complete revascularization in patients with coronary artery disease.

Coronary chronic total occlusion (CTO) is a frequent finding in patients with coronary artery disease. It remains one of the most challenging subsets, accounting for 10-20% of all percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). Although remarkable progress in PCI has been made, it is reasonable to state that successful recanalization of CTO represents the "last frontier" of PCI. PCI of CTOs has been...

The hybrid algorithim approach, together with innovative new technologies, has lead to increased interest in chronic total occlusion (CTO) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and increasing procedural success rates. Unlike non-CTO PCI, there is an increased rate of femoral access. When considering arterial access in CTO PCI, a balance is needed between anticipated procedural difficulty, pl...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES The prognostic value of chronic total occlusion in nonculprit coronary arteries in patients with myocardial infarction undergoing primary angioplasty remains controversial. Several publications have described different methodologies and conflicting findings. In addition, causes of death were not reported. Our aim is to analyze the prognostic impact of chronic total o...

In contemporary practice there are three main methods that can be employed when attempting to open a chronic total occlusion (CTO) of a coronary artery; antegrade or retrograde wire escalation, antegrade dissection re-entry and retrograde dissection re-entry. This editorial will attempt to clarify the anatomical features that can be identified to help when deciding which of these strategies to ...