title: Chronic total coronary occlusions.
abstract: Chronic total coronary occlusions (CTO) occur in up to one-third of patients undergoing coronary angiography. Indications for opening CTOs include relief of angina, improving left ventricular function, decreasing the need for coronary artery bypass surgery, and improved long-term survival. Newer technology, wire-based and non-wired-based, has improved the ability to cross these previously uncrossable lesions, thereby improving the acute success rates of opening these lesions. Also, the advent of drug-eluting stents has markedly increased the long-term patency of these complex lesions. Therefore, the clinical demand for opening these chronically occluded arteries has increased.
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Specialists of North Carolina, 3866 Cedarfield Place Court, Winston-Salem, NC 27106, USA. GBraden@triad.rr.com
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Braden
mesh_terms: D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D018579:Patient Selection; D011859:Radiography