Intravascular lithotripsy and temporary mechanical circulatory support for the treatment of heavily calcified coronary artery disease: insights from the BENELUX-IVL registry.

Background: Intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) is increasingly utilized for the treatment of heavily calcified coronary lesions. However its use in conjunction with temporary mechanical circulatory support (tMCS) remains underexplored.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the current use of tMCS and IVL for the treatment of heavily calcified coronary lesions.

Methods: From the BENELUX-IVL prospective registry, patients who underwent IVL during PCI and required tMCS during the procedure were selected. The primary technical endpoint was procedural success <30%, defined as a composite of device success (the ability to deliver the IVL catheter across the target lesion, and delivery of IVL pulses without angiographic complications) with residual stenosis <30%, final Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction grade 3 flow, and no in-hospital major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). The primary clinical outcome was in-hospital MACE, including cardiac death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, or target lesion revascularization.

Results: Between May 2019 and March 2024, a total of 454 patients were included, of whom 12 (2.6%) necessitated tMCS (for a total of 13 tMCS devices). Upon admission, the mean LV-EF was 39.5 ± 11.9%. The median Syntax score was 37 (25-49). A bail-out indication was the most common reason for tMCS initiation (58.3%), even if none was directly started due to IVL-related complications. Microaxial Flow Pump was the main utilized device (75%), followed by VA-ECMO (25%) and IABP (8.3%). One case required both VA-ECMO and Impella due to a coronary perforation complicated by cardiac tamponade. Procedural success < 30% was achieved in 91.6% of the cases. MACE occurred in one patient (8.3%).

Conclusions: In a large cohort of patients with complex heavily calcified coronary lesions requiring IVL, the need for tMCS was low (2.6%), with the main indication being bail-out.