Background: A forward-looking, fiberoptic guided device (Safe-Cross System, Intraluminal Therapeutics, Carlsbad, CA) has been used with guided radiofrequency energy to open chronic total occlusions (CTOs). This report describes the use of optical coherent reflectometry (OCR) system to assess safety and efficacy of opening CTOs in native peripheral arteries in the lower extremities: iliac, femoral, and popliteal.
Methods: 18 CTOs in native peripheral arteries in 17 patients were treated with OCR after failed attempts with conventional wires (minimum 10 min of fluoroscopic time).
Interventional cardiology has advanced into domains once believed to be beyond the reach of percutaneous procedures. As technologic advances continue to push the limits of the interventionalist's capabilities, several areas still exert considerable resistance to this forward momentum. These technically difficult frontiers include bifurcated lesions, small-vessel disease, multivessel disease, diffuse disease, and chronic total occlusions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOptical coherent reflectometry, a forward-looking, fiberoptic-guided device was used in 72 patients to direct radiofrequency energy across the central intraluminal portion of 75 chronic total occlusions in peripheral arteries (iliac, femoral, and popliteal) that failed attempts with conventional guidewires. The system was successful in crossing 76% of the chronic total occlusions with no clinical perforations or distal embolizations, and complications consisted of a single dissection greater than or equal to grade C.
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