CrossBoss and Hybrid Registry on Coronary Chronic Total Occlusions

The successful re-opening of a blocked coronary artery has a beneficial effect on the further clinical course (e.g. improvement of clinical symptoms, improved quality of life, increased heart function, etc.). However, some types of blockages are more difficult to open by means of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), a procedure which is commonly used for these kind of problems. This procedure makes use of a technique in which special wires, balloons, stents (metal or polymeric tube-like structures) and devices are utilized to re-open or revascularize a blockage in one of the blood vessels of the heart. This type of blockages are chronic total occlusions (CTO). CTOs have certain characteristics which impede the revascularization of the blood vessel.

Nevertheless, remarkable progress has been achieved over the past few years in the area of CTO revascularization or CTO PCI. A large range of CTO dedicated materials, such as guidewires, guiding catheters, devices, balloons and stents, as well as different techniques have been developed. However, at present, reluctance to open CTOs still exists, due to the indications and outcomes of percutaneous revascularization as well as the technical difficulties which commonly arise during these interventional procedures. The presence of these difficulties results in suboptimal success rates worldwide (±70-80%), despite these many innovations.

To increase these success rates and to make sure more interventional cardiologists will treat CTOs, a hybrid treatment algorithm has been developed with the materials (e.g. CrossBoss™ catheter; Bridgepoint Medical, Inc.) and techniques, currently already available. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and efficiency of this hybrid algorithm as well as validating the efficacy of one of the materials (CrossBoss™ catheter), used in this algorithm. To be able to do this, data concerning the patients' demographics, CTO characteristics, procedure and outcome will be collected in the form of a registry. This registry will be performed in several European centra (Belgium, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, France). Since the study will only collect data and no intervention is performed, this will be an observational study. At regular time points, the data will be checked for errors or inconsistencies. To do this, site visits will be performed at pre-defined times.