The Anchor-Tornus technique: a novel approach to "uncrossable" chronic total occlusions.

Following successful guidewire passage, inability to cross a chronic total occlusion is the most frequent cause of procedural failure. While low-profile balloons, microcatheters, and specialty catheters such as the Tornus have been designed to facilitate lesion crossing, these devices require adequate guiding catheter support. We describe a novel application of the Tornus catheter combined with a balloon-anchored guide technique to successfully recanalize an otherwise difficult to cross chronic total occlusion. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.