ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to illustrate some of the challenges faced in the successful treatment of these lesions and suggests chronic total occlusion (CTO)-specific training recommendations to aid the and future generations of interventionalists in becoming facile in the treatment of the lesions. CTOs are one of the most commonly observed lesion subsets during diagnostic cardiac catheterization, occurring in up to one-third of patients. In addition to gaining CTO experience through appropriate case selection, it is important for the CTO interventionalist to be familiar with the latest technological advances and devices as well as intraprocedural techniques that may impact procedural success. Fellowship training in interventional cardiology is typically constructed as an apprenticeship with didactic components via lectures and conferences. Revascularization of CTOs is an advanced percutaneous coronary intervention technique that requires the operator to integrate a variety of cognitive and technical skills in order to proceed successfully and safely, while at the same time imparting prognostic benefit to the patient.
