Crossing of a calcified “balloon uncrossable” coronary chronic total occlusion facilitated by a laser catheter: A case report and review recent four years' experience at the Thoraxcenter

Failure to cross with a balloon is a well recognised cause of failure to recanalise a chronic total occlusion (CTO) despite successfully positioning a guidewire into the distal true lumen. One technique that is infrequently used currently is excimer laser assisted coronary intervention. We report a patient with CTO in whom in the fourth attempt, the operators succeeded by using a laser catheter. Also, we review the cases treated with laser catheter in our institution during these recent 4 years. The laser catheter can be useful in selected patients including those with CTO where a balloon would not pass despite a guidewire in the distal true lumen.