India’s biggest forum for in-depth knowledge on latest cardiovascular (CVD) surgery developments, the Chronic Total Occlusion Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (CTO PCI), is celebrating its 8th live summit. The three-day summit is taking place at The Leela Ambience Hotel, Gurgaon, Haryana, and is inaugurated by the Haryana Health and Family Welfare Minister, Anil Vij.

The Chronic Total Occlusion (CTO) is a procedure pioneered by Japanese cardiologists to open up long-standing, 100 per cent blocked arteries by inserting drug-eluting stents (DES). These stents slowly release medicines in coronary arteries—that carry blood to the heart--to prevent formation of blood clots in patients. These operations are mainly performed on patients, who are either unwilling, or have a high risk for bypass surgery. The operation involves piercing the blocked artery with micro instruments specially designed wires, balloons and catheters to ensure the free flow of blood to the heart.

The surgeries will also be transmitted live to the participants to demonstrate and share the latest techniques and advanced medical procedures for treating CTO by Indian and international experts.  Performing a percutaneous coronary intervention remains the final frontier for any cardiologist, and hence remains a herculean task. No wonder, out of 3500 cardiologists in India only around 20% cardiologists can carry out such operations successfully. The annual summit is being attended by over 350 top cardiologists from India and those from Japan, Germany, Italy, Canada, UK and USA.

The IJCTO Club took shape with the prime objective of offering greater learning opportunities with regards to CTO. Its faculty comprises some world-renowned names such as Dr Prathap Kumar N, Organising Secretary & Course Director; Dr V Surya Prakash Rao, Course Director, Professor PK Goal; and Dr AV Ganesh Kumar, Course Director. The team of experts will share their experiences and guide discussions on topics related to the field.

Talking about the agenda of this year’s summit, Dr Prathap Kumar N, Organising Secretary, Course Director & Chairman, Meditrina Group of Hospitals, said, “IJCTO is a collaborative effort by Indian & Japanese interventional cardiologists to collectively share their knowledge and experience regarding CTO PCI. This year’s live summit is organised to offer opportunities for greater learning in this field for all. With the advent of scientific innovations in the field of CTO PCI, we aim to ensure that the cardiologists are well-equipped with user-friendly precision hardware that results in good clinical outcomes.” We want younger cardiologists to benefit from such programs.

Dr V Surya Prakash Rao, Course Director said, “IJCTO is a platform to gain in-depth knowledge of CTO PCI for the young budding interventional cardiologists interested in the field. I believe that this collective effort will bring evolution and growth in the field and will help to treat complex cases with precision.”  

Professor PK Goal, Course Director said, “CTO interventions are quite challenging. It's a niche field and requires a lot needs more research and development. IJCTO is a platform to exchange new learnings and overcome current challenges on the subject. We look forward to this year’s conference."

Dr AV Ganesh Kumar, Course Director said, “This is a platform from where we can teach, and train younger cardiologists about advanced techniques linked to CTO PCI. We strive to spread the knowledge and skills across the country so that more patients can be benefitted. It’s our constant endeavour to do the best for the patient in the safest possible way.”

In the current era of expanding Interventional cardiology, CTO remains one of the challenging areas where the expert's experience and technical expertise play an important role in the final success of the procedure. Over the past decade, CTO PCI has remained the last frontier to be conquered by the Interventional Cardiologist.