Influence of smoking habits on acute outcome of revascularization of chronic total occlusion

OBJECTIVE
Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for chronic total occlusion (CTO) remains a major challenge in interventional cardiology. The exact toxic components of cigarette smoke and the mechanisms involved in smoking-related cardiovascular dysfunction are largely unknown, but it increases inflammation, thrombosis, and oxidation of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. There is only insignificant knowledge reported in the literature about the influence of smoking habits on acute outcome in CTO PCI.

METHODS
Between 2012 and 2017, a total of 559 patients were included in the study. The patients all underwent PCI for at least 1 CTO. Antegrade and retrograde CTO techniques were applied. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to test for normality of distribution. Continuous variables were tested for differences with the Kruskal–Wallis test or the Mann–Whitney U test, as appropriate. Categorical variables were tested using Fisher’s exact test.

RESULTS
Non-smokers were older than smoking patients (65.3±10.3 years vs. 58.3±9.2 years; p<0.001). The mean age of the cohort was 62.1 years (±10.5). Smokers were more often male (85.7% vs. 79.7%; p=0.074), suffered from longer lesion length (36.1±17.5 mm vs. 39.1±17.2 mm; p=0.023) and therefore needed longer stents (64.2±26.5 mm vs. 69.0±28.0 mm; p=0.084). The success rate was comparable for smokers and non-smokers. In-hospital procedural complications were rare and demonstrated no statistically significant difference.

CONCLUSION
The results of this retrospective study revealed no significant association between smoking and acute outcome in CTO PCI. Smokers did, however, have longer lesions and needed longer stents.