Subintimal tracking and re-entry technique with contrast guidance: a safer approach

To assess the procedural and clinical outcomes from a modified subintimal tracking and re-entry (STAR) procedure performed using contrast guidance.

Previous data showed that recanalizing a chronic total occlusion (CTO) with the STAR technique was possible. However, this technique was considered difficult and therefore has only been adopted by a limited number of experienced operators.

Patients (n = 68) with a CTO of a native coronary artery treated by a single operator with this technique were included.

The right coronary artery was involved in 79.4%, the morphology was blunt in 77.9%, and CTO length was longer than 20 mm in 67.6%. Angiographic success rate was 80.9% with a 70.6% rate of complete recanalization. Stent implantation was performed in 82.3% of cases, with drug-eluting stents (DES) implanted in the majority (92.7%). Procedural complications occurred in 10.3% of cases. There were no episodes of myocardial infarction during follow-up, with 1 case (1.5%) of cardiac death. There were no cases of definite or probable stent thrombosis, and there was 1 (1.5%) possible stent thrombosis. The overall rate of in-segment binary restenosis was 44.7%, and target lesion revascularization (TLR) was performed in 25% of lesions. The rate of TLR in lesions treated with DES was 29.4% and in those treated with bare-metal stents was 50%.

The contrast-guided STAR technique appears to be feasible and relatively safe. However, this procedure is limited by a high rate of restenosis even with DES, and a second procedure may be necessary to obtain a definitive result.