Shockwave intravascular lithotripsy as a novel strategy for balloon undilatable heavily calcified chronic total occlusion lesions.

Background: The successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in chronic total occlusion (CTO) improves the long-term outcome in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Heavy calcification remains one of the strongest predictors of an unfavorable outcome of PCI. In this case series study, shockwave intravascular lithotripsy (S-IVL)-a novel balloon-based coronary system facilitating modification of calcified coronary lesions was evaluated.

Methods: The study population consisted of five heavily calcified, undilatable-CTOs lesions treated with S-IVL selected out of all consecutive CTO-PCI patients performed at two high-volume cardiac centers.

Results: The registry included 5 patients successful CTO - S-IVL procedures with an average J-CTO of 2.6 points. In the short-term follow-up period, including the first 30 days, no cases of acute in-stent thrombosis, target lesion failure, or major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events were noted.

Conclusions: The present data suggest that this approach can be safe and useful in the treatment of complex calcified CTO lesions.