Improvement of LV functional performance in the chronic total coronary occlusion during the late stage is associated with the extensive collateral development

Methods In nine pigs a CTO was created by percutaneously inserting a fibrin plug (AngiosealΤΜ) into the mid-todistal left anterior descending artery (LAD). Animals were studied six (n=3) or twelve weeks (n=6) later prior to sacrifice. An x-ray angiogram confirmed the LAD CTO at those time points. Cardiac MR (CMR) studies were then conducted on a 1.5T (n=6) or on a 3.0T MRI system (n=3), which included SSFP short axis sections for wall motion and post-gadolinium LGE-MRIs for viability. After sacrifice, both right and left coronary systems were injected with Microfil. X-ray or MSCT angiography of the fixed heart was obtained. A longitudinal cardiac section including the CTO lesion, proximal/distal LAD and the borders of infarction was removed and prepared in gel, then imaged in a microCT system at 27 micron resolution. LV functional parameters including wall thickness at end-systole (WTES) and end-diastole (WTED) were measured in border zone, infarct and remote region. Systolic wall thickening (SWT) was calculated using as (WTES-WTED) x100/ WTED. CMR and micro-CT data were processed using commercial software. The extent of collaterals on micro-CT images was rated qualitatively using a score from 0 to 3, indicating that no, minimal, moderate, or extensive collaterals were observed. A Student’s t-test was used for the statistical significance of differences between measurements at 6 and 12 weeks.