Saint Luke’s is a world leader in treating chronic total occlusions (CTOs), or arteries that are completely blocked by plaque buildup. Traditionally, CTOs have been treated with medication or bypass surgery. But Saint Luke’s physicians have perfected a new minimally invasive technique for opening CTOs in 90 percent of cases for patients with coronary artery disease, resulting in reduced complications and faster recovery times for patients. Today, these pioneering physicians travel the world teaching other cardiologists this technique, and it’s still offered at Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City.
In fact, our interventional cardiology team has:
- Performed more than 2,000 CTO procedures, averaging a 90 percent success rate—exceeding the 65 percent national average
- Decreased average procedural times in half, from 180 to 90 minutes
- Trained physicians in more than 120 facilities worldwide
- Served in advisory and leadership roles for the leading interventional cardiology organizations, helping set current and future angioplasty standards and policies
- Completed some of the seminal research on the benefits and clinical outcomes of CTO angioplasty
Because our team has performed more CTO angioplasty procedures than any other hospital in the region, Saint Luke’s offers patients the leading-edge expertise and techniques to improve their quality of life.
Learn More
Living with chronic total occlusion can rob you of living a fuller life. Learn how angioplasty can restore it with Saint Luke’s Aaron Grantham, M.D., one of the pioneers who developed this lifesaving treatment.
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