The BridgePoint devices to facilitate recanalization of chronic total coronary occlusions through controlled subintimal reentry

Abstract

In view of the improved long-term patency with drug-eluting stents, the challenge with chronic total coronary occlusion remains a low primary success rate. Modes of failure to open a chronic total coronary occlusion are mainly related to the inability to pass a wire through the proximal occlusion cap, and the most difficult part of the procedure is to guide the wire into the distal true lumen. A frequent situation is a subintimal wire position. The BridgePoint (BridgePoint Medical, MN, USA) family of devices is designed to cope with both of these problems. First, the CrossBoss™ catheter aims at passing through the proximal cap by manual rotation of a blunt proximal tip, and second, in case of a subintimal position, the Stingray™ balloon enables guided reentry from the subintimal space into the true lumen. Certain features of an occlusion might favor the CrossBoss device, while the reentry approach may also be used as a standalone bailout method. The aim is to provide a means to resolve otherwise failed attempts and to make it unnecessary to resort to the more complex and time-consuming retrograde wire techniques through collateral channels with the associated potential higher procedural risks.