Intraluminal crossing of infrainguinal SFA chronic total occlusions may offer patency superiority compared to subintimal crossing

ObjectivesPatency for chronic total occlusions (CTO) of the superficial femoral artery (SFA) after endovascular interventions traditionally demonstrate a low 1-year patency ranging from 40%-60%. The optical coherence tomography (OCT) catheter (Avinger Inc., Redwood City, CA) uses light-based technology imaging to cross Trans-Atlantic Inter-Society Consensus D (TASC D) lesions intraluminally with direct intra-arterial visualization. Insufficient data exist evaluating intraluminal crossing with OCT imaging compared with traditional subintimal techniques. We evaluated outcomes for TASC D lesions crossed intraluminally.MethodsA retrospective analysis of patients with SFA TASC D lesions crossed intra-arterially with the OCT catheter imaging. Descriptive statistics evaluated patient characteristics which included patient demographics, Rutherford scores, ABIs, CTA information, lesion categorization, as well as runoff score. Patency at baseline, 30-day, 6-month, and 1-year outcomes were compared using t-tests. Cumulative patency rates were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier analysis.Results101 patients underwent elective intervention for SFA TASC D lesions with the OCT catheter. The crossing rate was 78.2%, mean lesion length was 16.2 cm, and runoff at the tibial level was 2.2 patent vessels. Mean age and BMI were 64 years and 29 kg/m², respectively. Patient characteristics are male (57%); Caucasian (90%); ever smoking (85%); hypertension (82%), hyperlipidemia (70%), and diabetes (46%). Pre-operative computed tomography demonstrated SFA lesions were predominantly eccentric (91%) with mild to moderate calcification (90%). All underwent PTA, 87% were stented (mean stent length: 186.1 mm), mean crossing time was 13.4 min. Pre-operative, 30-day, 6-month, and 1-year post-operative mean Rutherford-Becker scores were 4, 1, 1, and 1, respectively (<i>p</i> < 0.0001). Mean pre-operative ABI was 0.49, compared to 0.84 at 30 days, 0.64 at 6 months, and 0.67 at 1 year (<i>p</i> < .0001). Duplex demonstrated 6- and 12-month primary patency of 89% and 75%; primary-assisted patency was 94% and 84%.ConclusionsThe OCT imaging catheter successfully crossed long chronic total occlusions of the SFA using direct intra-arterial imaging. Compared to subintimal techniques, patients had high 1-year primary patency and prolonged symptom improvement with intraluminal crossing. These data suggest that intraluminal crossing of TASC D lesions may be superior to traditional subintimal crossing techniques.