Abstract 16977: Coronary Chronic Total Occlusions: Insights on Upstream Management

Abstract

Introduction: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of coronary artery chronic total occlusions (CTO) has increased over time, despite representing higher procedural risk than traditional PCI. While guidelines for stable ischemic heart disease recommend antianginal therapy prior to attempted revascularization, the frequency with which this occurs for CTO PCI remain unknown. We propose to assess the frequency and variability in upstream use of antianginal therapy prior to CTO PCI attempt over time. Methods: This study identified all patients who underwent a CTO PCI attempt from January 2012 to September 2018 across the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System using the Veterans Affairs Clinical Assessment, Reporting and Tracking (CART) program. Patients were categorized by upstream management: (A) <2 antianginal medications prescribed in year prior to CTO PCI, (B) ≥ 2 antianginals (C) Stress testing within 3 months of CTO PCI attempt and (D) ≥2 antianginals AND stress testing. Antianginal medications included beta blockers, nitrates, calcium channel blockers, and ranolazine. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the propensity for receiving each category of treatment over time. Results: During the study period, 4250 patients underwent CTO PCI, with 1716 (40%) on ≥2 antianginal medications, 2534 (60%) on <2 antianginals, 1023 (24%) with stress testing, and 338 (8%) on ≥2 antianginals with stress testing. Trends in upstream medical management of patients undergoing CTO PCI were unchanged over each fiscal year (Figure 1A) while odds of preprocedural stress testing decreased across fiscal years (Figure 1B). Conclusions: The majority of patients were on low intensity antianginal medical therapy prior to CTO PCI. Utilization of preprocedural stress testing decreased over time while patterns of upstream medical management remained constant, suggesting an opportunity to improve guideline compliance among patients undergoing attempted CTO PCI.