Use of Polymer-Jacketed, Tapered-Tip, Low-Force Guidewires With Composite-Core, Dual-Coil Design as Part of the Antegrade Approach to Coronary Chronic Total Occlusions

To investigate the impact of novel, polymer-jacketed, tapered-tip, low-force guidewires with composite-core, dual-coil design (Fielder XT-R and Fielder XT-A; Asahi Intecc) on antegrade wire escalation (AWE) crossing of coronary chronic total occlusion (CTO) lesions.From March of 2017 to December 2018, a total of 164 consecutive CTO lesions at a single institution were treated with a primary AWE strategy using either Fielder XT-R or XT-A (XTRA) as the starting wire regardless of lesion characteristics. Success rates, wiring times, and complications were analyzed.The mean Japanese (J)-CTO score was 3.71 ± 1.27, mean PROGRESS-CTO score was 2.46 ± 1.15, and mean PROGRESS-CTO Complications score was 3.9 ± 2.0. Mean CTO length was 25.0 ± 0.5 mm, 48 lesions (29.3%) were previously bypassed, 77 lesions (47.0%) had moderate to severe calcification, and 62 lesions (37.8%) had moderate to severe tortuosity. Antegrade success rates using XTRA wires were 79%, 60%, and 17% of lesions with J-CTO scores of 0-1, 2-3, and 4-5, respectively. In successful antegrade XTRA cases, median wiring times were 6.5 min (interquartile range [IQR], 5.0-11.0 min), 9.0 min (IQR, 4.2-14.0 min), and 12.0 min (IQR, 9.0-15.0 min) for J-CTO scores of 0-1, 2-3, and 4-5, respectively, and differed non-significantly according to J-CTO score (P=.20). Complication rates were low (In-hospital major adverse cardiac event rate, 1.3%) with no wire perforations caused by XTRA wires.Use of Fielder XTRA wires as part of an AWE strategy in CTO percutaneous coronary interventions may facilitate more efficient antegrade lesion crossing and overall procedural success in lesions that have been traditionally challenging to treat using an antegrade-first approach.