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The Anchor-Balloon Technique for Difficult Chronic Total Occlusions

Rajiv Goswami, DO, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Ben Taub Hospital, Houston, Texas

This report describes intervention on a 73-year-old female with significant left main and triple-vessel coronary artery disease. We describe the sequence of multi-vessel intervention on the left main, obtuse marginal, and left anterior descending coronary artery CTO. Success in this case depended on application of the anchor balloon technique to deliver the balloon catheter for initial dilatation after successful crossing of the CTO with the guide wire.

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Cath Lab Spotlight » Ohio Cath Labs

Genesis Healthcare Cardiac Catheterization Lab

By: Cathy Huggins, MSN, RN-BC, CNL, CCRN, Ravin Miller, RN, MSN, Abdulhay Albirini, MD, FACC, Zanesville, Ohio

Genesis HealthCare System is an integrated health care delivery system based in Zanesville, Ohio, located one hour east of Columbus, Ohio.

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Clinical Update » Chronic Total Occlusion

High Success, Low Complications for Chronic Total Occlusion Revascularization in the Cath Lab: The EXPERT CTO Trial

By: Cath Lab Digest talks with David Kandzari, MD, Director of Interventional Cardiology and Chief Scientific Officer, Piedmont Heart Institute, Atlanta, Georgia.

What we have observed in cardiovascular medicine is what I would term a “treatment paradox” both for bypass surgery and for percutaneous revascularization. Specifically, as disease burden and complexity increase, ironically, both among surgeons and as interventional cardiologists, we perform less revascularization.

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Ask the Transradial Expert » Transradial

Transradial Revascularization of an Ostial Left Main Chronic Total Occlusion

By: Kintur Sanghvi, MD, Deborah Heart & Lung Institute, Browns Mills, New Jersey

CTO revascularization is generally challenging, but even more so in an aorto-ostial location.

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Ask the Transradial Expert » Chronic Total Occlusion

Revascularization of a Left Main Chronic Total Occlusion via Transradial Access

By: Case presented by Orlando Marrero, RCIS, MBA, Tampa, Florida. Case performed by Zaheed Tai, DO, FACC, FSCAI, Winter Haven Hospital, Winter Haven, Florida.

Use of a large lumen supportive guide, modification of certain techniques, and careful planning will allow successful management of LM disease via the radial approach in select cases.