Browsing by Author "Werner, Gerald S. (7202099557)"

Importance: Chronic total occlusion percutaneous coronary intervention (CTO-PCI) is not usually offered because of skepticism about long-term clinical benefits. Objective: To assess the association of successful CTO-PCI with quality of life by analyzing the relevant domains of the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ). Data Sources: PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Cochrane databases were searched to identify randomized trials and observational studies specifically addressing quality of life domains of SAQ from January 2010 to June 2022. Study Selection: Studies included reporting SAQ metrics such as angina frequency, physical limitation, and quality of life, before and after CTO-PCI. Data Extraction and Synthesis: The present study was performed according to the Cochrane Collaboration and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statements, in which fixed-effect or random-effect models with generic inverse-variance weighting depending on statistical homogeneity were applied. Data were extracted by 3 independent reviewers. Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was angina frequency; physical limitation and quality of life were assessed as secondary outcomes. Results: Seven prospective randomized or observational studies (2500 patients) were included, with a mean (SD) participant age of 61.2 (2.1) years. CTO-PCI was associated with significantly improved quality-of-life metrics during a mean (SD) follow-up of 14.8 (16.3) months. In patients with successful procedures, angina episodes became less frequent (mean [SD] difference for SAQ angina frequency of 12.9 [3.1] survey points [95% CI, 7.1-19.8 survey points]; standardized mean difference was 0.54 [95% CI, 0.21-0.92]; P =.002; I2 = 86.4%) and they experienced less physical activity limitation (mean [SD] difference for SAQ physical limitation of 9.7 [6.2] survey points [95% CI, 3.5-16.2 survey points]; standardized mean difference was 0.42 [95% CI, 0.24-0.55]; P <.001; I2 = 20.9%), and greater quality-of-life domain (mean [SD] difference for SAQ quality of life of 14.9 [3.5] survey points [95% CI, 7.7-22.5 survey points]; standardized mean difference was 0.41 [95% CI, 0.25-0.61]; P <.001; I2 = 58.8%) compared with patients with optimal medical therapy or failed procedure. Furthermore, follow-up duration (point estimate, 0.03; 95% CI, 0.01-0.04; P =.01) was associated with a significant decrease in angina frequency in meta-regression analysis. Conclusions and Relevance: In this systematic review and meta-analysis examining quality of life following CTO-PCI, successful procedures were associated with improved quality-of-life parameters compared with patients on optimal medical therapy or after failed CTO-PCI. These findings suggest support for using PCI to treat CTOs in symptomatic patients unresponsive to medical treatment. © 2023 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.

Chronic total occlusions (CTOs) of coronary arteries can be found in the context of chronic or acute coronary syndromes; sometimes they are an incidental finding in those apparently healthy individuals undergoing imaging for preoperative risk assessment. Recently, the invasive management of CTOs has made impressive progress due to sophisticated preinterventional assessment, including advanced non-invasive imaging, the availability of novel and dedicated tools for CTO percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and experienced interventionalists working in specialised centres. Thus, it is crucial that referring physicians who see patients with CTO be aware of recent developments and of the initial evaluation requirements for such patients. Besides a careful history and clinical examination, electrocardiograms, exercise tests, and non-invasive imaging modalities are important for selecting the patients most suitable for CTO PCI, while others may be referred to coronary artery bypass graft or optimal medical therapy only. While CTO PCI improves angina and reduces the use of antianginal drugs in patients with symptoms and proven ischaemia, hibernation and/or wall motion abnormalities at baseline or during stress, the effect of CTO PCI on major cardiovascular events is still controversial. This clinical consensus statement specifically focuses on referring physicians, providing a comprehensive algorithm for the preinterventional evaluation of patients with CTO and the current evidence for the clinical effectiveness of the procedure. The proposed care track has been developed by members and with the support of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI), the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI), and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Working Group on Cardiovascular Surgery. © 2024 Taylor and Francis Inc.. All rights reserved.

Background: The CTO-ARC (Chronic Total Occlusion Academic Research Consortium) recognized that a nonstandardized definition of chronic total occlusion (CTO) percutaneous coronary intervention approaches can bias the complications’ attribution to each crossing strategy. Objectives: The study sought to describe the numbers, efficacy, and safety of each final CTO crossing strategy according to CTO-ARC recommendations. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data were retrieved from the European Registry of Chronic Total Occlusions between 2021 and 2022. Results: Out of 8,673 patients, antegrade and retrograde approach were performed in 79.2% and 20.8% of cases, respectively. The antegrade approach included antegrade wiring and antegrade dissection and re-entry, both performed with or without retrograde contribution (antegrade wiring without retrograde contribution: n = 5,929 [68.4%]; antegrade wiring with retrograde contribution: n = 446 [5.1%]; antegrade dissection and re-entry without retrograde contribution: n = 353 [4.1%]; antegrade dissection and re-entry with retrograde contribution: n = 137 [1.6%]). The retrograde approach included retrograde wiring (n = 735 [8.4%]) and retrograde dissection and re-entry (n = 1,073 [12.4%]). Alternative antegrade crossing was associated with lower technical success (70% vs 86% vs 93.1%, respectively; P < 0.001) and higher complication rates (4.6% vs 2.9% vs 1%, respectively; P < 0.001) as compared with retrograde and true antegrade crossing. However, alternative antegrade crossing was applied mostly as a rescue strategy (96.1%). Conclusions: The application of CTO-ARC definitions allowed the reclassification of 6.7% of procedures as alternative antegrade crossing with retrograde or antegrade contribution which showed higher MACCE and lower technical success rates, as compared with true antegrade and retrograde crossing. © 2024 The Authors

Background: The recent development and widespread adoption of antegrade dissection re-entry (ADR) techniques have been underlined as one of the antegrade strategies in all worldwide CTO consensus documents. However, historical wire-based ADR experience has suffered from disappointing long-term outcomes. Aims: Compare technical success, procedural success, and long-term outcome of patients who underwent wire-based ADR technique versus antegrade wiring (AW). Methods: One thousand seven hundred and ten patients, from the prospective European Registry of Chronic Total Occlusions (ERCTO), underwent 1806 CTO procedures between January 2018 and December 2021, at 13 high-volume ADR centers. Among all 1806 lesions attempted by the antegrade approach, 72% were approached with AW techniques and 28% with wire-based ADR techniques. Results: Technical and procedural success rates were lower in wire-based ADR than in AW (90.3% vs. 96.4%, p < 0.001; 87.7% vs. 95.4%, p < 0.001, respectively); however, wire-based ADR was used successfully more often in complex lesions as compared to AW (p = 0.017). Wire-based ADR was used in most cases (85%) after failure of AW or retrograde procedures. At a mean clinical follow-up of 21 ± 15 months, major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs) did not differ between AW and wire-based ADR (12% vs. 15.1%, p = 0.106); both AW and wire-based ADR procedures were associated with significant symptom improvements. Conclusions: As compared to AW, wire-based ADR is a reliable and effective strategy successfully used in more complex lesions and often after the failure of other techniques. At long-term follow-up, patient's MACCEs and symptoms improvement were similar in both antegrade techniques. © 2023 The Authors. Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.