Laser atherectomy for balloon failure in chronic total occlusion. When the going gets tough.

Excimer laser coronary atherectomy (ELCA) is based on ultraviolet energy and is capable of disintegrating atheroma, without burning or grossly fragmenting it. ELCA has proven effective in the percutaneous treatment of a variety of complex lesions, including chronic total occlusions (CTO) and severely calcified lesions, in case of balloon failure-tocross or failure-to-expand. Here we present a case of a successful CTO recanalization with ELCA after balloon failure, review the literature on this topic, and present an algorithm outlining the management of this challenging clinical scenario.