Laser For complex coronary Artery lesion pReparatiOn: the results of the pilot FARO study

When used by experienced operators, excimer laser coronary artery angioplasty is a well-established therapy that can be used during percutaneous coronary intervention to treat a wide range of coronary lesions including heavily calcified stenosis.

This study sought to analyze the safety and effectiveness of laser angioplasty with the Auryon laser system for the treatment of heavily calcified coronary lesions.

A pragmatic sample of 20 patients with heavily calcified stenosis gave informed consent to participate in the study; we evaluated patient characteristics including age, cardiovascular risk factors, angiographic data (lesion complexity, number of stenoses, chronic total occlusion), calcium arch, thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) flow before and after revascularization, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) success, and acute-stent thrombosis.

A total of 20 subjects (20 lesions) were enrolled. A successful result, defined as < 30% residual stenosis and TIMI 3 flow after PCI, was achieved in 95% of cases.

This study introduced the successful use of this innovative device to treat high calcium and complex epicardial stenosis in 20 patients. The positive impressions include the ease of use and the safety and effectiveness in the treatment of severely calcified lesions.