Impact of coronary computed tomography angiography derived full Moon calcifications in CTO-PCI

Abstract

Abstract Background There is an increasing incidence of chronic total coronary occlusions (CTO). CTO are complex coronary lesions and known to represent a technical challenge for percutaneous recanalization procedures. However, the success rates of CTO- percutaneous coronary interventions (CTO-PCI) have increased tremendously with the continuous innovations in equipment and procedural techniques. Circular heavily calcified "Full Moon"- like plaques have been observed in CTO patients, however their frequency and relevance for CTO-PCI outcomes remain unclear, despite they can be straightforward identified by Coronary Computed Tomographic Angiography (CCTA) during CT-scans to select the CTO-PCI recanalization strategy. Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical value of CCTA – derived "Full Moon"-like plaques and to analyze its impact on percutaneous CTO recanalization. Methods Out of the Charité CTO-PCI registry a total of 29 consecutive patients undergoing CTO-PCI and upstream CCTA-imaging for CTO planning were enrolled into the entire analysis. One patient was excluded due to stent artefacts with insufficient CCTA quality. Results Within the study cohort 17.9% (n=5) presented a "Full Moon"-like stenosis as CTO-causing target lesion. During CTO-PCI all these lesions (100%) required extensive debulking techniques as rotablation or ultrasound lithoplasty due to difficulties in device crossing compared to 13% (n=3) lesions in the non "Full Moon" group (p<0.001). In detail, 40% of lesions in the "Full Moon" group had to be prepared by rotablation-therapy (compared to 0% in the non- "Full Moon" group; p<0.05) and 20% of lesions underwent shockwave therapy as compared to 13% non- "Full Moon" lesions (n=3; p=.0.69). However, 40% of the "Full Moon" interventions resulted in a complete failure of crossing the device compared to 13.0% in the non- "Full Moon" group (p=0.15). Conclusions "Full Moon"- like calcification derived by CCTA represents a frequently observed phenomenon in CTO and represents an important predictor for complexity during CTO-PCI. Coronary Computed Tomography can be used to identify such a marker of calcium complexity and therefore to plan the procedure in advance.