Use of a pigtail catheter to engage a difficult internal mammary artery.
Increasing use of bilateral internal mammary arteries for coronary surgery will increase the number of interventions in these grafts. Such interventions may be technically challenging because of often tortuous and angulated vessels. We describe a technique to intubate an acutely angulated right internal mammary artery that was inaccessible with conventional catheters.
Lapp
Harald
H
Herzzentrum Wuppertal, Medizinische Klinik 3, Wuppertal, Germany. lapp@klinikum-wuppertal.de
Haltern
Georg
G
Kranz
Thomas
T
Boerrigter
Guido
G
Horlitz
Mark
M
Klein
Michael
M
Krakau
Ingo
I
Guelker
Hartmut
H
D002404:Catheterization; D006801:Humans; D007387:Internal Mammary-Coronary Artery Anastomosis; D007440:Intubation; D008297:Male; D008323:Mammary Arteries; D008875:Middle Aged