Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty hardware entrapment: guidewire entrapment

Entrapment and fracture of coronary angioplasty hardware are rare complications of percutaneous coronary interventions for which cardiac surgery is sometimes required. We report a case of guidewire entrapment during stenting of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) that required surgical removal. Although a piece of guidewire remained entrapped inside the stent, in the proximal tract of the LAD, a single bypass using the left mammary artery was performed. No perioperative complications were observed. There were no signs of perioperative or postoperative myocardial infarction, as indicated by clinical biomarkers or by electrocardiographic changes. The patient had an uneventful recovery and was discharged from the hospital on the sixth postoperative day. J Cardiovasc Med 9:1140-1141 (C) 2008 Italian Federation of Cardiology.