title: Safety of coronary angioplasty to chronic total occlusions.
abstract: Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) of chronic total occlusions (CTO) is not performed routinely in some centres due to concerns of low procedural success rates and high rates of short-term complications. This retrospective study examines the safety of PTCA to CTO in 100 consecutive cases compared to 100 matched controls. Success rate was 79% for CTO versus 98% for controls (p<0.001), however 5% of CTO patients had a cardiac enzyme rise compared to 13% of controls (p<0.05) and 0% of CTO patients compared to 6% of controls had a significant enzyme rise (p=0.03). These results suggest that PTCA to CTO can be carried out successfully in the majority of patients with only a relatively small risk of myocardial necrosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Missenden Rd, Camperdown NSW 2050, Australia.
authors.forename: Jens G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Kilian
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Celermajer
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Adams
mesh_terms: D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged