Successful revascularization of chronic total occlusion of lower extremity arteries: a wire only and bail out use of re-entry device approach.

AIM: The management of progressive peripheral artery disease experienced a vast change in paradigms over the last decades for the benefit of minimal invasive therapy as a first-line strategy. With the constant development of new devices, materials and dedicated access strategies, more complex lesions can be managed but the limitations to successfully treat chronic total occlusions are still the challenge to re-enter the true lumen. The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate, if a "wire only" strategy leads to an acceptable success rate in a mixed cohort of CTO lesions and to what extend re-entry devices are used. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed patients treated at the Vascular Center Berlin between 2011 and 2013 with chronic total occlusion out of a prospective conducted database (Endovascular MILestones - EMIL) for demographics, risk factors, co-morbidities, technical success rates, lesion characteristics and use of guidewires as well as re-entry systems. A total of 128 patients with 146 lesions, which represent a subgroup of all the cases performed in our center, following a predefined treatment algorithm for chronic total occlusions (CTOs), have been analyzed. RESULTS: We achieved a technical success in 133 (91.1%) of all cases following a "wire only" strategy. Out of 13 (8.9%) CTOs with technical failure in 7 (53.9%) CTOs a re-entry device (Off-Road®) with a 100% technical success has been used. In 91.1% of chronic total occlusion lesions the use of 2 wires only (88.7%) led to a successful recanalization. A "wire only" strategy followed by the use of a re-entry device as a bail out strategy, led to a total of 140 (96%) lesions to be successfully recanalized. CONCLUSION: In more than 90% of all cases with chronic total occlusion of peripheral lower extremity arteries, endovascular intervention has been successful following a "wire only" strategy. When deciding to use a re-entry device, in case of a failure of a proper wire re-entry at the reconstitution point, a technical success rate of 100% was achieved. Therefore following a strict wire algorithm and considering the use of a re-entry system as a bail out strategy will lead to a successful minimal invasive management of chronic total occlusion in nearly 100% of the cases with TASC II A - D lesions.