White Thrombosis on Optical Coherence Tomography after Rotational Atherectomy of Severely Coronary Calcified Lesions
Abstract Background: Rotational atherectomy (RA) has improved percutaneous treatment of severe coronary calcified lesions, but the "no-reflow" phenomenon remains a serious complication. Platelet activation by RA may contribute to the no-reflow, we use optical coherence tomography (OCT) to test the effect of RA on white thrombosis that could confirm platelet activation indirectly. Methods: We analyzed 53 consecutive patients with coronary angiographic severe calcified lesions. All the patients were examined by OCT. Twenty patients received RA and OCT imaging performed before and after RA and after stent implantation. The remaining patients were as a control group and OCT imaging performed before balloon dilatation and after stent implantation. Results: The patients were older and higher incidence of Diabetes mellitus in the RA group. In the RA group, the mean burr size was 1.48±0.14mm. The mean rotation speed was 152,300±4,200rpm. The mean number of rotations per patient was 5.3±2.1 times and the mean ablation time per RA was 11.3±3.2 seconds. In the control group, there was no thrombogenesis during the procedure, but in the RA group, all the target vessels had only white thrombosis on OCT after RA. The average number of white thrombus per lesion after RA was 7.23±4.4, and the average length of every white thrombus was 0.51±0.33mm. In Pearson Correlation Analysis, Thrombotic load was related with burr size (r=0.575, P=0.040) and rotation number (r=0.599, P=0.031).Conclusions: White thrombosis during RA is proved by OCT in vivo. Treating calcified lesions with RA may enhance thrombogenesis. These data suggest using a proper therapy to avoid no-reflow during RA.