Successful opening in-stent chronic total occlusion lesion of coronary artery by excimer laser coronary angioplasty

In percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), chronic total occlusion (CTO) coronary artery disease still remains difficult to treat. One of the reasons for the failure is the hard of the CTO lesions that balloon is difficult to pass through or expand. Previous methods to deal with CTO lesions that cannot be passed by balloon, include selecting reinforced catheter (such as 5 in 6 guiding catheter, Guidzilla catheter, or Tornus microcatheter), guidewire extrusion or rotary grinding technology. In recent years, excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA) has been gradually applied to CTO lesions. Using inert halide as the laser medium, ELCA emits a 308 nm high-intensity unidirectional light wave with absorption depth of only 50 μmL, resulting in less thermal effect and less damage to non-target lesions. In this paper, we will describe a successful PCI case of an in-stent CTO lesion using ELCA with long term coronary angiography follow-up.

Impact of main vessel calcification on procedural and clinical outcomes of bifurcation lesion undergoing provisional single-stenting intervention: a multicenter, prospective, observational study

Background Few data on the combined effects of bifurcation and calcification on coronary artery disease(CAD)patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI)are available.This study evaluated the impact of main vessel(MV)calcification on the procedural and long-term outcomes in patients with CAD who underwent provisional single stent PCI.Methods This is a multicenter,prospective,observational study.Patients with bifurcation lesions were enrolled at 10 PCI centers in China from January 2015 to December 2017.Intravascular ultrasound or optical coherence tomography was performed in all patients to evaluate the MV calcification.Patients were treated with provisional single stent strategy using drug eluting stents and followed-up at 1 month,6 months and 12 months after discharge by telephone contact or outpatient visit.Repeated coronary imaging was performed within one year.We compared the procedural success rates in MV and in side branch(SB),and target lesion failure(TLF),defined as a composite of cardiac death,non-fatal myocardial infarction,definite or possible stent thrombosis and target lesion revascularization between patients with and without MV calcification.Results A total of 185 subjects were enrolled according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria of this study.MV calcification was detected in 119(64.3%,calcification group)and not found in 66(35.7%,non-calcification group)patients.The angiographic success rate of MV was 95.8%in the calcification group and 97.0%in the non-calcification group(P=0.91);the angiographic success rate of SB was 32.8%in the calcification group and 53.0%in the non-calcification group(P<0.05).During the one-year follow-up period,TLF occurred in 14(11.8%)patients in the calcification group and in 13(19.7%)in the non-calcification group{P=0.31).Multivariate regression analysis showed the same result(HR=1.23,95%CI:0.76-1.52,P=0.47).Calcification on group had higher recurrent angina than non-calcification group(13.51%vs.17.65%,P<0.05).Conclusions In patients with coronary bifurcation lesion treated with provisional one stent approach,calcification of MV is associated with lower SB procedural success rate,it could increase recurrence of angina;however,it was not associated with an increased risk of TLF.