Case report demonstrates effective use of rotational atherectomy to treat fractured guidewires in chronic total occlusions, suggesting its viability.
Background: Fracture of guidewires may occur during attempts to recanalize severely calcified chronic total occlusions (CTOs) via percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). When a fractured guidewire becomes entrapped within the lesion, rotational atherectomy (RA) may serve as a safe rescue strategy. Case: We report a case in which RA was utilized both to recanalize the heavily calcified CTO and to simultaneously ablate the entrapped guidewire fragment. Conclusions: RA may serve as a safe rescue strategy to manage the fractured guidewires within CTO segments.
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Hong et al. (2026) studied this question.
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