Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41941342›Full record

SynthesisCurrent cardiology reviews2026

Impact of CTO Revascularization on Sudden Cardiac Death and/or Ventricular Arrhythmias: A Meta-analysis of Observational Studies.

Dimitrios Sfairopoulos, George Bazoukis, Haipeng Liu, Athanasios Saplaouras, Polyxeni Efthymiou, Andronicos Yiannikourides, Eirini Pagkalidou, Tong Liu, Panagiotis Korantzopoulos, Konstantinos P Letsas and 3 more

Abstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Current cardiology reviews, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Dimitrios SfairopoulosDepartment of Cardiology, University of Ioannina, School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece.
George BazoukisDepartment of Cardiology, Larnaca General Hospital, State Health Services Organization, Larnaca, Cyprus.
Haipeng LiuResearch Centre for Intelligent Healthcare, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Coventry University, Coventry, UK.
Athanasios SaplaourasDepartment of Cardiology, Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece.
Polyxeni EfthymiouDepartment of Cardiology, Larnaca General Hospital, State Health Services Organization, Larnaca, Cyprus.
Andronicos YiannikouridesDepartment of Cardiology, Larnaca General Hospital, State Health Services Organization, Larnaca, Cyprus.
Eirini PagkalidouDepartment of Hygiene and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
Tong LiuTianjin Key Laboratory of Ionic-Molecular Function of Cardiovascular Disease, Department of Cardiology, Tianjin Institute of Cardiology, Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.
Panagiotis KorantzopoulosDepartment of Cardiology, University of Ioannina, School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece.
Konstantinos P LetsasDepartment of Cardiology, Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece.
Michael EfremidisDepartment of Cardiology, Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece.
Gary TseDepartment of Cardiology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Ionic-Molecular Function of Cardiovascular Disease, Tianjin Institute of Cardiology, Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.
Emmanouil S BrilakisCenter for Coronary Artery Disease at Minneapolis Heart Institute and Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, Minneapolis, MN 55407, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionThe presence of a chronic total occlusion (CTO) has been associated with increased risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) and/or ventricular arrhythmias (VAs). This study aimed to evaluate the impact of CTO revascularization on SCD and/or VAs.

methodsA systematic review of the literature was performed to identify studies evaluating the association between CTO revascularization and risk of SCD and/or VAs.

resultsSix studies were included in the final meta-analysis. The total sample size included 2,017 participants for the assessment of the primary outcome of interest and 868 participants for the assessment of the secondary outcome of interest. In 5 studies examining the association between CTO revascularization and risk of SCD and/or VAs, CTO revascularization was not associated with a statistically significant reduction in the risk of SCD and/or VAs (HR: 0.78; 95% CI: 0.38 to 1.60; p = 0.50, I2 = 87%). Conversely, in 2 studies examining the association between IRA-CTO revascularization and risk of SCD and/or VAs, IRA-CTO revascularization was associated with 79% lower risk of SCD and/or VAs (HR: 0.21; 95% CI: 0.10 to 0.43; p < 0.0001, I2 = 0%). DISCUSSION: CTO revascularization overall was not associated with a lower risk of SCD and/or VAs. In contrast, IRA-CTO revascularization was associated with a lower risk of SCD and/or VAs. However, the study has several limitations, primarily due to the observational nature of the included studies.

conclusionSuccessful revascularization of an IRA-CTO should be attempted to reduce the burden of VAs and reduce the risk of SCD.

Indexed as

Arrhythmias, CardiacCoronary OcclusionDeath, Sudden, CardiacMyocardial RevascularizationChronic DiseaseHumansObservational Studies as TopicRisk FactorsChronic total occlusioncoronary arteryrevascularizationsudden cardiac deathventricular arrhythmiasventricular tachycardia

Identifiers

PMID41941342
PMCPMC13519578

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.