Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Versus Optimal Medical Therapy for Chronic Total Coronary Occlusion With Well‐Developed Collaterals

BACKGROUND The impact of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on chronic total occlusion in patients with well-developed collaterals is not clear. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 640 chronic total occlusion patients with collateral flow grade ≥2 were divided into 2 groups; chronic total occlusion patients either treated with PCI (the PCI group; n=305) or optimal medical therapy (the optimal medical therapy group; n=335). To adjust for potential confounders, a propensity score matching analysis was performed. Major clinical outcomes were compared between the 2 groups up to 5 years. In the entire population, the PCI group had a lower hazard of myocardial infarction (hazard ratio [HR], 0.177; P=0.039; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.03-0.91) and the composite of total death or myocardial infarction (HR, 0.298; P=0.017; 95% CI, 0.11-0.80); however, it showed higher hazard of target lesion revascularization (HR, 3.942; P=0.003; 95% CI, 1.58-9.81) and target vessel revascularization (HR, 4.218; P=0.001; 95% CI, 1.85-9.60). After propensity score matching, a total of 158 matched pairs were generated. Although the PCI group showed a higher hazard of target lesion revascularization (HR, 2.868; P=0.027; 95% CI, 1.13-7.31) and target vessel revascularization (HR=2.62; P=0.022; 95% CI, 1.15-5.97), it still exhibited a lower incidence of the composite of total death or myocardial infarction (HR, 0.263; P=0.017; 95% CI, 0.087-0.790). The mean ejection fraction was improved from 47.8% to 51.6% (P<0.001) after PCI. CONCLUSIONS In our study, successful revascularization by PCI for chronic total occlusion lesions with well-developed collaterals was associated with lower incidence of death and myocardial infarction, improved left ventricular function, but increased repeat revascularization rate.