Contemporary Percutaneous Interventions for Coronary Chronic Total Occlusions

Chronic total occlusions (CTO) are among the most complex subsets of coronary artery disease usually described as the "last frontier" of interventional cardiology. While percutaneous coronary intervention is successful in more than 95% with respect to non-occlusive lesions, success rate is much lower for CTO lesions estimated at 60-70% among non-expert operators reaching 90% in centers of excellence. On the contrary to other lesion types, CTO revascularization is not only achieved by the conventional antegrade technique but also by the so called antegrade dissection re-entry crossing and the retrograde approach. The percentage of complications is also higher requiring special technical skills by CTO operators in order to effectively manage them.

This Research Topic will provide a review on CTO interventions covering the fundamental aspects of CTO percutaneous recanalization. The topic editors encourage submission of the latest advances in the field and present data on subjects that are, in our opinion, scarcely covered by the existing literature like long term outcomes after CTO percutaneous coronary interventions. Apart from strictly technical topics, this Research Topic will include views of the broader topics including set up of CTO center.

Led by an international team of subject experts, this Research Topic will explore contemporary percutaneous interventions for coronary chronic total occlusions. Sub-themes for this Research Topic include but are not limited to:
1. Dedicated management centers.
2. Current advances in antegrade dissection re-entry.
3. Predicting and managing complications in CTO PCI.
4. CTO PCI in the post-CABG patient.
5. Long term outcomes post CTO PCI.
6. Patient related outcomes and physiological changes post CTO PCI.
7. Outcomes of a Dedicated Heart Team for Coronary Chronic Total Occlusions.