Update on Chronic Total Occlusion Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: Indications and Evidence

BACKGROUND: With more specific indications and improved technical support, chronic total occlusion (CTO) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has achieved substantial breakthroughs in recent years. Procedural success rates have risen steeply, accompanied by a growing number of patients who are willing to undergo CTO PCI. SUMMARY: Although several large observational studies and randomized clinical trials have demonstrated the trend of relief of angina after CTO PCI, robust evidence for additional benefits such as improvements in left ventricular ejection fraction, mortality, and myocardial infarction (MI) still lacks. KEY MESSAGES: Given the aforementioned issues, we sought to review latest developments in the CTO PCI patients and to provide a comprehensive discussion of the indications, safety, efficacy, and what directions for future research.