Feasibility of Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA) in Total Coronary Artery Occlusion (TCO)

Abstract

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty,(PTCA), was attempted in twenty consecutive patients with 100% coronary occlusion, without antegrade visualization of contrast material in the occluded vessel. The time interval between coronary angiography and angioplasty was 7.8 days. Of the twenty patients that underwent angioplasty, six had unstable angina, eleven had stable angina, one had acute myocardial infarction, and two had post-infarction angina. The occluded vessel was the left anterior descending, (LAD), coronary artery in thirteen patients, the right coronary artery, (RCA), in six patients, and the left circumflex, (LCX), coronary artery in one patient.